News – Page 2 – Maine Cheese Guild

Guild Board member Eric Rector will be teaching a beginning cheesemaking workshop for MOFGA in January — here is the info and a link to the sign-up page:

January 20, 2020
Monday, 10 a.m. to 3 p.m.
Cumberland County UMaine Cooperative Extension office
75 Clearwater Dr., Suite 104, Falmouth, Maine
Fee: $75 general, $65 for MOFGA members, free for journeypersons; lunch included

Learn how to make cheese at home at MOFGA’s beginner home cheesemaking course. Eric Rector, owner of Monroe Cheese Studio and board member of the Maine Cheese Guild, will teach the basics of turning organic raw milk into delicious cheese through a hands-on demo. We will make a quick fresh cheese to slice and taste during class. Additional demonstrations will feature the differences between fresh, aged and acid-set cheeses and rennet-set cheeses. We will also learn how to make ricotta and mozzarella, and some history of cheese.”

The Board of the Maine Cheese Guild came to the difficult decision to cancel our Annual Maine Cheese Festival for 2020 at Savage Oakes Winery in Union. The safety and well being of our community and customers is our highest priority. Read a letter from the Guild Board of Directors here regarding this cancellation.

Here’s a look back at our 2019 Festival at Manson Park in Pittsfield, Maine

This was our 4th Annual Maine Cheese Festival – Sunday, September 8, 2019 along the Sebasticook River at Manson Park in Pittsfield, Maine, 11 am – 5 pm rain or shine.

VENDORS LIST: here.

Maine’s biggest gathering and celebration of cheese. Taste and learn about Maine cheese, plus artisan and fermented foods and beverages.

About this Event

Maine Cheese Guild cheesemakers plus Maine brewers, wineries and cideries, Maine food trucks and Maine artisan foods and beverages to explore and sample. The festival is a major fundraising effort for the Maine Cheese Guild, a non-profit trade organization that works year-round to educate Maine cheesemakers and elevate the quality of Maine cheese and dairy.

Beer Garden tickets: $15 for 12 tastings available at the Festival. Bring your ID if you want to enter the Maine Beer Garden at the Festival. This year, our Beer Garden is generously sponsored by Allagash Brewing Co.

Allagash, along with a dozen other Maine breweries, wineries, and cideries, will be pouring samples throughout the day and many will be paired with a bite of cheese from our Maine Cheese Guild cheesemakers! You will need a valid photo I.D. to enter the Beer Garden as the drinking age in Maine is 21. Tasting tickets will be available for purchase on site.

Music: We’ll have live music throughout the day including Married with Chitlins and Rough Sawn! Plus we’ll have demos on cheesemaking, cheese pairing, fermentation and home-brewing in our Workshops Tent.

New this year: You want more cheese, you got it! Everyone who attends the Maine Cheese Festival will receive a ticket at the entrance gate for a complimentary cheese plate! Our Sponsor, Bangor Wine and Cheese is jumping in to help us run the Cheese Bar where you can redeem your ticket for your cheese plate and mingle with some cheese fairies!

Of course we couldn’t do this without you, our dedicated cheese lovers and our amazing sponsors:
Thank you so much to: Bangor Savings Bank, Are you Ready to Party??, Allagash Brewing Company and Bangor Wine and Cheese!

2019 Festival Vendors

Cheesemakers

Abraham’s Creamery

Appleton Creamery

Balfour Farm

Copper Tail Farm

Crooked Face Creamery

Dreamin’ Fahm

Fuzzy Udder Creamery

Garden Side Dairy

Hahn’s End Creamery

Kennebec Cheesery

Maine Water Buffalo Farm

Pineland Farms Dairy

Pumpkin Vine Family Farm

Silvery Moon Creamery

Spring Day Creamery

Springdale Farm

Stone Fox Creamery

Sunset Acres

Swallowtail Farm and Creamery

York Hill Farm

Beer/Wine/Spirits

Allagash Brewing Co.

Bigelow Brewing Co.

Mason’s Brewing Co.

Oak Pond Brewery

Odd Alewives Farm Brewery

Rocky Ground Cider

Savage Oakes Winery

Tree Spirits Winery & Distillery

Turning Page Farm Brewery

Food Trucks

These Maine food trucks will be on site and ready to serve you, so bring your appetite:

Melt
Kings’ Concessions
The Ravioli-Mobile
Stone Fox Farm Ice Cream
The Yum Bus

Maine Food Products

Fat Back
Hootenanny Bread
Pemaquid Lobster & Seafood
30 Acre Farm
Mill Cove Crackers
Turtle Rock Farm
Brazen Baking
Gryffon Ridge Spice Co.
Pete Egan’s Travelling Oyster Bar
Farmhouse Coffee Roasters
Pemaquid Lobster & Seafood
Get Sticky Popsicles
Tempest in a Teapot

Demos

1. Cottage Cheese and Bondon Making with University of Maine Cooperative Extension. (We’ll be giving away some goods from New England Cheesemaking Supply Co!)

2. Ask a Cheesemaker Panel Discussion & Q and A.

3. Building a Better Cheese Plate with Libby from the Cheese Iron

4. Taste the Milk, Taste the Cheese! A variety of milks and a variety of cheeses to try!

Our Festival sponsors:

Allagash Brewing Co.
Bangor Savings Bank
Are You Ready to Party??
Bangor Wine and Cheese
New England Cheesemaking
The Advertising Specialsts of Maine
Culture

Your attendance at the Festival helps support the work of the of the Maine Cheese Guild’s mission—to support and encourage the Maine cheesemaking community. We will do this through development of a collective voice to promote Maine cheese and cheesemakers, educate cheese makers and consumers, coordinate resources and share the joy and art of regional cheeses.