Our newest experiment! Named for the milky-white flowers of the native Galax evergreen, Galax is a  washed-curd, natural rind cheese similar to Gouda. Its mild flavor and smooth, buttery texture bring out the natural sweetness of the milk, with hints of walnut in the finish.

A website exclusive, this cheese is still in development and may change in size, shape, and flavor as we continue to work on the recipe. 

A long-running, slow-burn experiment, Mountain Laurel is modeled after the hard Italian Grana-style cheeses such as Parmigiano-Reggiano and Trentingrana. Currently we are offering the first batch of our 2021 Mountain Laurel for sale.

At over a year of aging, the Mountain Laurel is a dense, full-bodied cheese, whose pronounced grassy and fruity notes are complimented by a rich melted butter flavor and a hint of nuttiness. Smoother and creamier than its European counterparts, the Mountain Laurel makes an excellent cheese for either the kitchen or the table. 

Our original recipe, the first cheese we ever made, Appalachian has evolved a great deal over our years of production. Our goal with the Appalachian has always been to develop a cheese that showcased our milk, milk from a herd developed to fit our farm's mountainous terrain, rather than picking a benchmark cheese and struggling to match the farm to it. To this end we've kept the make simple and focused on affinage, allowing the Appalachian to form a white coat of penicillium molds that compliments its unique flavor.

Aged for at least ninety days in our cellars, Appalachian is a lush, vibrant cheese evocative of cream and butter with a mushroom earthiness that recalls the intensity of the cellars. Its lemon notes shade to toasted as the cheese ages. The texture is velvety, melting on the tongue.

This long-aged version of our original recipe Appalachian is aged for over eight month in our cellars. The extra age turns Appalachian into a lush, fruity cheese with overtones of toasted butter, with a mushroom earthiness that recalls the intensity of the cellars and a tangy, smooth finish. The texture is firm but velvety, melting on the tongue. 

A small format version of our bestselling cheese, Minis are washed for two months in our cellars with Hardywood’s Singel ale. These petit beauties have Grayson’s classic washed rind earthiness, complimented by the smooth, yeasty beer flavor, with subtle notes of cream and a rich fruity finish. The texture is spreadably silky and melting right up to the reddish-yellow rind. Each Mini is between two-thirds and three-quarters of a pound.

When we started making Mountain Laurel back in 2020, we did a lot of experimenting... including one that's taken a full three years to come into its own!

For this batch, we skimmed the milk, resulting in a much drier, firmer cheese than the regular Mountain Laurel, dotted with crystals formed over its long three-year aging. It's most similar to classic European grating cheeses like Pecorino Romano. The sharp, grassy acidity is mellowed by a walnut nuttiness and a rich, savory finish. This would be a wonderful cheese served with honey and basalmic vinegar, and perfect grated over fresh pasta.

There are only ten wheels of Mountain Laurel in this batch, and we're unlikely to make it quite like this again, so pick yours up soon... when it's gone, it's gone!