ADGA Convention in Buffalo, part 1

  • Posted by: karl
Margaret talks to Gianaclis Caldwell of Pholia Farm in Rogue River, Oregon, during the wine and cheese and book signing event at the ADGA National Convention in Buffalo.
Margaret talks to Gianaclis Caldwell of Pholia Farm in Rogue River, Oregon, during the wine and cheese and book signing event at the ADGA National Convention in Buffalo.

We had a great time at the American Dairy Goat National Convention in Buffalo. We did a book signing Thursday night during the “Products Reception” (otherwise known as the wine and cheese event), together with Brad Kessler, of Goat Song fame. We had the great pleasure of meeting Brad and his wife, Dona Ann MacAdams, at the convention this year. Brad’s book is a beautiful telling of their journey from city life to their goat farm and cheese operation in Vermont. If you haven’t read it yet, we highly recommend it.

The “Products Reception” is one of the most amazing spreads of goat cheeses you’ll ever see. The convention does a big cheese competition every year, this year, judged at least in part by the amazing Max McCalman (who you may remember from The Year of the Goat, book and website). After judging all the cheese is put out for a general tasting. If I had been thinking more about this blog posting at the time, I would have done a better job writing down the different cheeses that we tasted, especially the very best ones. There were definitely some very good cheeses (and some, to be honest, that were not so good) but the variety, in type, shape, size and geographic origin was mind blowing, and a testament to the continued progress being made by American cheesemakers. We’ll link to the results once they are posted on the ADGA site.
Eating cheese at the 2009 ADGA Convention Products Reception
Eating cheese at the 2009 ADGA Convention Products Reception
Author: karl