Let's start with a few words from this week….cheese, beer, and competition. Honestly, I don't know what else I need to say because that's exactly what went down in Green Bay this past week! When I say competition, I'm not kidding. Try thinking of a competition between over 2,000 competitors all trying to be #1. This is more competition than March Madness!
All jokes aside, it was really cool to be at the competition all week, plus they couldn't have picked a better state to have a cheese contest in. It just wouldn't make sense to have the event anywhere else.
Now we have to talk about the actual judging….and don't think I didn't try to get in on the action because I did! But apparently, you have to be an “expert” to judge cheese….all I know is that I like cheese. Isn't that enough? It's not. I talked with one of the judges, Don Tribby, and also with the Communications Director for the Wisconsin Cheese Makers Association, Rebekah Sweeney about the judging process.
After two days of judging it all came down to one night! We got the chance to attend the Cheese Champion event at the KI Center. This was so cool because you got to talk to the judges, eat a TON of cheese, and try different beers from local brewers. I can't complain about my job one bit. We talked to a lot of the judges and just got their perspective on the night and the event in general.
My favorite part about the event was how nice all of the judges really were. I understood that they were busy but they still took the time to talk with us and take some pictures….sometimes a few pictures because we didn't like the one we took. Whoops. One of the judges talked to me about why he loves coming to the event and why he thinks it's such an important contest to attend.
AND NOW FOR THE WINNERS!
The craziest part of the contest was that when it came down to the top three cheeses, they were all within decimals of each other!
Here's the rundown:
3. Second Runner Up
Marieke Gouda Team
Holland's Family Cheese
Thorp, WI
Marieke Gouda Overjarige
Champion Round Score: 98.39
2. First Runner Up
Marieke Gouda Team
Marieke Gouda
Thorp, WI
Marieke Gouda Premium
Champion Round Score: 98.419
1. The 2019 U.S. Champion!
Team Guggisberg Doughty Valley
Guggisberg Cheese
Millersburg, OH
Baby Swiss Wheel
Champion Round Score: 98.543
For all the 2019 results just check out the U.S. Champion Cheese Contest website
here
!
If you get the chance next year to go, I say do it!
I wonder who's gonna get the title next year?
