![\"Facebook\"](\"https:\/\/driftlessappetite.com\/wp-content\/plugins\/social-media-feather\/synved-social\/image\/social\/regular\/96x96\/facebook.png\" "\\"Follow")
<\/a><\/a>![\"twitter\"](\"https:\/\/driftlessappetite.com\/wp-content\/plugins\/social-media-feather\/synved-social\/image\/social\/regular\/96x96\/twitter.png\" "\\"Follow")
<\/a>![\"rss\"](\"https:\/\/driftlessappetite.com\/wp-content\/plugins\/social-media-feather\/synved-social\/image\/social\/regular\/96x96\/rss.png\" "\\"Subscribe")
<\/a>Again, if you want well written, nuanced and\u00a0insightful analysis, check them out.\u00a0 If you don’t want any of that, stay here.<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"http:\/\/driftlessappetite.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/10\/uplandsfarm.jpg\" "\\"uplandsfarm\\"")
<\/a>So, I’m reading Tony Bourdain’s Medium Raw right now.\u00a0 In chapter 7 he’s talking about the changing face of fine dining in America and he quotes Jonathan Gold: “While nobody was paying attention, food quietly assumed the place in youth culture that used to be occupied by rock ‘n’ roll–individual, fierce, and intensely political”.\u00a0 This strikes me as so obviously true that it isn’t even necessary to conjecture.\u00a0 David Bowie has become David Chang.\u00a0 That being the case, I don’t think Leslie went too far a few weeks ago when she called Andy Hatch “a rockstar in the cheese world”.\u00a0 Andy is the cheesemaker at Uplands Cheese<\/a>, the Wisconsin outfit that produces Pleasant Ridge Reserve<\/a>, winner of the Best in Show at the American Cheese Society competition (in 2010, as well as 2001 and 2005).\u00a0 If the name is still not ringing a bell, check out the cover of the Wisconsin Cheesemakers calendar<\/a> \u00a0I’m sure you’ve bought by now.\u00a0 Andy joined Uplands Cheese as an assistant cheesemaker in 2007.\u00a0 I’m sure this year’s ACS award was extra special to everyone since it was the first Best in Show since Andy took over most cheesemaking operations from Mike Gingrich (one of the owners) in 2008.\u00a0 Just to make it clear how impressive this achievement is, no cheese has won the ACS three times…or even twice.<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"http:\/\/driftlessappetite.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/10\/uplandscheeseawards.jpg\" "\\"uplandscheeseawards\\"")
<\/a>We first met Andy Hatch earlier this summer, at a pot firing party at Windy Ridge Pottery<\/a>.\u00a0 We recently saw him again in a more professional capacity.\u00a0 We were lucky enough to be invited along on a press tour of Wisconsin cheesemakers put together by the Wisconsin Milk Marketing Board<\/a>.\u00a0 Due to other commitments\u00a0(and a headcold) we were only able to make one day of the 3 day tour, but it was a great time.\u00a0 We’d like to thank the WMMB for the invitation (full disclosure:\u00a0the WMMB paid for the tour).\u00a0 One of the stops the day we went was at Uplands Cheese.\u00a0 It was in fact a bit weird that we\u00a0had to get up early to drive to Madison\u00a0so we could get back on a bus\u00a0to visit a cheesemaker 10 miles from our house.\u00a0 In fact,\u00a0when we were leaving Uplands Cheese,\u00a0the tour bus actually drove right\u00a0past our house.\u00a0 Along on the tour with us\u00a0were\u00a0more than a dozen other food writers and professionals (most of whom…all<\/em> of whom\u00a0are much better\u00a0and more successful at this than us).\u00a0 Many of them have already written about some of their experiences.\u00a0 The ones I’m aware of are:<\/p>\n\n
![\"\"](\"http:\/\/driftlessappetite.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/10\/uplandscheesewheels.jpg\" "\\"uplandscheesewheels\\"")
<\/a>Uplands is know for one cheese–for good reason–they only make one cheese, called Pleasant Ridge Reserve.\u00a0 It’s an Alpine\u00a0cheese, similar to Gruyere or Beaufort.\u00a0 It’s made from raw cow’s milk, only from Upland’s own cows.\u00a0 Pleasant Ridge Reserve is made only May through October, the time when the cows are able to graze on healthy pastures.\u00a0The cows\u00a0are rotated through different pastures each day so they are always eating the best grasses and clover.\u00a0 Each day’s milk is made into a batch of 10 lb wheels (seen above) which are then aged until ready to sell (due to variations in the milk, this time can be different for each batch, so Andy and Mike have to watch each batch carefully, and test it often to know when it’s time to sell it.<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"http:\/\/driftlessappetite.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/10\/rushcreek1.jpg\" "\\"rushcreek\\"")
<\/a>I said before that they make only one cheese, and that will be true for a few more months.\u00a0 Andy is working on a new cheese, to be called Rush Creek Reserve.\u00a0 It will be a washed rind, raw milk cheese aged to just past 60 days (the legal requirement for raw milk cheese in Wisconsin) made in the autumn months when the milk produced by their cows is more suitable to a bolder (i.e. stinkier) cheese than the subtle Pleasant Ridge Reserve.\u00a0 Pictured above are some of the beta tests of the new cheese, which we were unfortunately unable to sample.\u00a0 When it’s available we’ll be sure to talk about it.\u00a0 And in the next few days we’ll write about some of the other parts of the tour we went on.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"