SF Cheese Fest Is Back: Sept. 21 at the SF Ferry Building

Imagine the San Francisco Ferry Building Grand Hall with unlimited samples of artisan cheeses—plus pairings and drinks—live music, a gorgeous grazing table, and the beautiful views. That’s what you’ll find on Saturday, September 21, 6–9pm, at the 9^th Annual SF Cheese Fest.

“SF Cheese Fest celebrates our diverse cheese community and the bonds between rural cheesemakers, urban cheesemongers, and passionate consumers across the state,” says Sarah Simms, President of the California Artisan Cheese Guild and co-founder of Lady & Larder. “Guests will be able to taste over 75 different varieties of cheese and meet the makers and mongers. It’s going to be a wonderfully festive evening of community and cheese!”

If you read “Affiné,” our spring feature on California artisan cheese, you may be interested in similar tips for cheeses to watch for. Here are some that we find especially exciting:

Webster Marquez of Sebastopol’s Bohemian Creamery told us about two cheese they  made specifically for this event. One is called Heatwave. “It’s a round of goat milk cheese, done in the style of a young Asiago,” says Marquez. “We sprinkled a layer of Mendocino-grown piment d’Espelette in the middle to make a lovely, reddish wave of gentle heat. We then rubbed the outside with a mixture of smoked paprika and olive oil to create a flavorful rind. The result? Something that tastes a lot like these hot and occasionally smoky days.”

The other is El Chaparro, which Marquez says “was born by a bit of frustration” over how herbs de Provence continue to be lauded in our regional California food crafting. “Why not use ‘herbes de California,’ the excitingly aromatic plants you can find along the Sonoma Coast,” Marquez explains as his reason for creating the distinctive new cheese. “So, we made a crumbly, one-month-aged goat cheese and coated the rind with a mix of locally foraged herbs: hummingbird sage, artemisia, fennel pollen, and Douglas-fir tips. This process creates an exciting cheese that tastes almost exactly like a breezy hike on the coast.” (Note that El Chaparro will be served during the VIP Early Entry hour only.)

We also learned that Omer Seltzer of  Mt. Eitan Cheese will be serving a goat milk cheese made with milk from Sonoma County’s renowned Redwood Hill goat farm. The collaboration is the first such arrangement since 2016, when goat farmer Jennifer Bice sold her Redwood Hill Farm brand name to a large corporation. When that company recently changed its brand name to Meyenberg (Darey brands), Bice saw an opportunity to sell the milk instead to Seltzer, who recently set up his cheesemaking in Bodega, California.

“The big thing for us is now working with such high-quality local milk, goat and cow, and the collaboration with such established organic dairies as Straus creamery and Redwood Hill farm, keeping high organic/human practices, to produce high-end handcrafted small-batch artisan cheese,” says Seltzer.

 

 

Another opportunity at the SF Cheese Fest will be a chance to try two new cheeses from Point Reyes Farmstead Cheese Company, where Edible East Bay visited on a June sketching trip with urban sketcher Cathy Raingarden. We loved the herbal sweetness of fennel added to the company’s splendid Original Blue and the umami allure of truffle in the newest version of the their Toma series, Tomatruffle. The truffles come from a longtime collaboration with the Sabatino family of Umbria.

The festival typically focuses on California producers, but this year, it will include cheesemakers from around the West, including Washington and Utah. Up to 20 artisan cheesemakers will showcase their acclaimed creations.

Guests get to taste dozens of the most exceptional and delicious cheeses being made today, and can enjoy them paired with preserves, chocolates, and charcuterie along with local wine and beer. Other highlights include live music by Brooke & Mike and a bountiful grazing table sponsored by Oakland’s Ollie’s American Cheese + Provisions and Novato’s Gourmet Imports.

 

 

New! VIP Early Entry Cheese Lover’s Paradise offers a behind-the-scenes opportunity for turophiles to deepen their cheese knowledge an hour before the doors open. A personal cheese sommelier will take you and a small group of fellow cheese enthusiasts for a curated tour that begins and ends with a “best bite” pairing. At each stop you’ll meet the cheese artisan behind the magic, taste, and indulge in cheese discourse. After the tour you’ll have time to mingle, get first dibs on the choicest cheeses, and beat the crowds to the bar for a perfectly paired libation. Space is limited and VIP tickets are sure to sell out.

SF Cheese Fest
Saturday, September 21, 6–9pm
Ferry Building Grand Hall, 1 Ferry Building, San Francisco
VIP Early Entry: 5pm entry, $148 per person
General Admission: 6pm entry, $98 per person
Tickets are on sale now at: sfcheesefest.com/tickets

 

9^th Annual SF Cheese Fest Cheesemakers and Participants (*new this year): Cheesemakers: Beecher’s Handmade Cheese (WA)*, Beehive Cheese (UT), Bellwether Farms, Bohemian Creamery, Central Coast Creamery, Cowgirl Creamery, Cypress Grove, Fiscalini Farmstead, Laura Chenel, Marin French Cheese Co., Mt. Eitan Cheese*, Nicasio Valley Cheese Co., Pennyroyal Farm, Point Reyes Farmstead Cheese Co., Rumiano Cheese Co., Shaft’s Cheese & Co.*, Tomales Farmstead Creamery, Wm. Cofield Cheesemakers. Food, Drink, and More: Barber Lee Spirits*, California Artisan Cheese Guild, California Milk Advisory Board, Coco Tutti*, Fever-Tree, Gold Ridge Organic Farms*, Humble Bites Lily Pops*, Wheyward Spirits. Fabrique Delices, Clif Family Wine and Artisan Foods, Olli Salumeria, Ambix Spirits, Z Specialty Food, LLC For an updated list of Cheesemakers and Participants, go to: sfcheesefest.com/marketplace-participants

About SF Cheese Fest: The 2024 SF Cheese Fest is produced by the California Artisan Cheese Guild, a 501c6, and serves as its primary fundraiser. The mission of the California Artisan Cheese Guild is to celebrate the quality and diversity of artisan cheeses produced in California through partnerships, outreach and education. For more information, visit sfcheesefest.com/, or follow on Facebook and Instagram. @sfcheesefest @cacheeseguild #SFCheeseFest #BuyCACheese