Beer Cheese Festival 2011

Last Saturday Brad and I attended the Beer Cheese Festival in beautiful downtown Winchester, Kentucky. This was our second year and we plan on making this an annual event.

"Beer Cheese Boulevard" --facing north--this was after we had been through 'the gauntlet'.

This is facing south through the main drag of the commercial tasting area, i.e. 'the gauntlet'.   I took this when we first got there around 11 am.  It was not even crowded yet.  This year the tasting area was cordoned off  and the ten commercial vendors were squished into a one block area with very little room in between them.  You could enter on either end and pay the $5 per person tasting fee and get your wristband.

I assume that this was done to respond to the problems I saw last year where folks would just walk up to the widely spread out individual commercial entrants and had to be screened by the entrants to see if they had wrist bands for the tasting.

While it may have cured one problem it created a few more.  The space was too small and making it a 'loop' essentially to get to taste all the cheeses--because there was a line at every station--and allowing people to enter at both ends caused a lot of back ups and 'line jumping'.    It also caused problems with being able to get back to some of the tables in the middle of the group to be able to drop our votes in and to take photos.  And this year there was little chance to talk to vendors as they were swamped with folks lined up to taste.

I know the festival organizers will take into consideration all of the comments and information folks have been relaying to them through their Facebook page and via email and make next year's set up even better.  I think it's smart to cordon off the tasting area.  However I think it needs to be in a straight line down the street so that people have room to enjoy the fine fare.

Now on to the beer cheese!

I like a beer cheese that is thick but not 'gluey' .  I want to taste real cheese not anything 'Velveeta-like'.  I like a nice spice kick but not so much heat that you lose the flavor of the cheese/beer combination.  My preferred tasting 'vehicle' is a little spoon but the carrot/celery/radish is a close second.

The hands down winner as far as 'presentation' was the ValuMarket beer cheese entry.  Their tastings were in individual little beer stein shot glasses.  And while pretzels are our least favorite vehicle for tasting beer cheese this combination was spot on.  It wasn't my favorite cheese--far too Velveeta-like in texture and taste--but they did a wonderful job 'selling it'.  I'd like to see the Festival organizers give an award for 'presentation' next year. They got a vote from us this year on presentation alone.

This little guy was digging it!

While it was tough to pick a winner--there were several entrants we liked very much--the entry of Howard's Creek got my vote.  The cheese was the perfect texture and thickness with a good cheese flavor and just enough tingle.  I also liked that they offered all sorts of tasting options--crackers, celery, carrots and radishes.

After surviving 'the gauntlet' and casting our votes we headed to the Engine House Deli for a nice cold beer.  It's a neat little place and the beer was refreshing . Armed with our red cups we headed back out for a look at the vendors wares.

These were so cute!

I of course became fascinated with this house on Main Street.  It stands out as a sea of neglect amidst a wonderfully preserved collection of old and lovely buildings.  Anyone know the story?

At the other end of Main street, in addition to various trade and craft booths, several vineyards had wine tastings which was a nice addition.  I had some lovely sangria and found some very nice balsamic and olive oil at the Stuarto's Olive Oil Company booth. 

The official winners of the 2011 Beer Cheese Festival were:

Commercial

 1st Kentucky Beer Cheese--good flavor and texture with consistent quality--our number 3


2nd Woody's--good but the heat overwhelmed on the finish--Brad liked it more than I did


3rd Full Circle Market--much improved over last year --better cheese flavor and texture--a strong contender at number 4 for us


I would have placed Allman's Beer Cheese 2nd--I really loved the strong cheese flavor and the thickness and texture.

Amateur

1st Hunt Rouse
2nd Ollie Puckett
3rd Brennan Gilkison

The general public did not have access to the amateur contestants entries due to health code restrictions.

I always get in a mood to make my own beer cheese after I attend this festival. 

I'll keep you posted *smile*