How did it take so long to have come up with the Utah Cheese Awards?!?!
In its second year, it's still a bit of a work-in-progess, with this year's festivities tucked away in the industrial part of South Salt Lake at Shades of Pale Brewery.
Once into the tap room, it was a boisterous mix of craft beer lovers, cheese vendors, and award-winners. By the end, they awarded 34 medals in 13 cheese plate food categories, as well as a Best of Show. A lot of fun!
I got my VIP tickets via Yelp, but I would've paid the $16 for it. The VIP ticket came with a Cheese Plate including: Beehive Cheese Seahive Cheddar, Butcher's Bunches jams, Bread Riot Bakehouse Sesame Semolina Bread, Creminelli Casalingo Salami, Chocolate Conspiracy's Blackberry Ginger Chocolates, Crown Chocolate Truffles, Gossner Baby Swiss Cheese, Heber Valley Fuego Rojo Cheese, Hollow Farms' Hickory Garlic Curd, Julie Ann Caramels' Caramel Sauce, Payson Fruit Growers' Dried Cherries, and Zollinger McIntonish Apple Slices.
I hope they get more vendors (they had three) and make entry and cheese plate acquisition (tucked in the back) less mysterious, but the end result was worth it.
And, in what will come as no surprise, the cheese was AMAZING! read more