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.

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

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.

Every so often, things just don't go right. This batch of Galax was the victim of experimentation -- trying to stabilize the rinds, we'd tried washing them once they hit the cellar, some twice and some four times. Twice turned out to be the magic number... but four times was too much, giving us sticky, wet rinds. The paste underneath, however, is beautiful and delicious, perfect for cooking or melting. Please take some of these not-quite swans off our hands and give them a good home!

Washed rind cheeses are amazing, but they're also difficult to get right. Every fall, we end up with some Grayson that's pretty on the inside but ugly on the outside: it has all the right rich, earthy flavors, but a rind that's sticky; dotted with black or brown; wet, mealy corners; paste that goes brown within a few days of cutting; or other flaws that make it unsuitable for customers looking for a premium product. Too often, these tasty but grotty cheeses end up sad and alone on the compost heap.

Are you able to give an ugly duckling a good home? We offer these flawed beauties in whole wheel quantities only but at a 50% discount. Share it, eat it, try it in recipes like tartiflette! 

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.

Every so often, we have a batch of cheese that takes a left turn in the cellars. Almost always it's the touchy Grayson, but sometimes even our old reliable Appalachian has a bad hair day!

This batch of cheese has the traditional Appalachian flavor, but something went a bit off in the rind development.