It’s been ten years of goats, milk, and a whole lot of cheese making. Along the way, we’ve had fun experimenting with different techniques, aging styles, and flavor combinations. Some turned out to be surprise favorites, others… not so much.
A few of our best cheeses were saved just for Cheese Club members as limited-time, small-batch offerings. But plenty of great ones made it into our regular lineup too! Here’s a look back at some standouts from over the years. Let us know if there’s one you’d love to see make a comeback!
Lil Moo Moo was a combination of R+D and Homer Simpson’s famous MooMoo. It was a cow's milk geotrichum rinded cheese that was exquisite out of the cave (look at that texture!), but we struggled to maintain the rind quality on the way to the market.
Ridley Run
This fudgy, creamy, salty little wheel has been a behind-the-scenes favorite at the creamery for years. Washed in local hard cider and brine, it’s got a funky edge, a hint of fruitiness, and a rich, meaty vibe we love.
Some cheeses take a funny path to find their name. Ridley Run is one of them. Originally, we named it Rioly Run after a creek near the ranch. Later, we tried to give it a more artsy name as a nod to a certain famous painter…but a cease and desist put an end to that. Oops! Back to Rioly Run, or so we thought. Somewhere along the way, the label got misread and it came back from print as Ridley Run. By the time we noticed? Well, the name had already stuck.
Honestly, it fits. It kinda sounds like something you’d stumble across on a winding back road, which is pretty much how this cheese came to be.
Our first season, we sold flavored chevre in various configurations with different toppings. We grew nasturtiums, chives, and other edible flowers in our little garden and put them on top of our cheeses.
Carmel
This one was a sheep and cow’s milk triple cream, another small format, bloomy rind cheese like Big Sur and Ragged Point. It’s smooth and rich with some hints of pepper and buttercream.
San Simeon Colby
This was our take on the iconic American colby. This semi-firm cow milk cheese had a smooth, yellow paste with a dense, fudgy texture. This old favorite was a little sweet with notes of sour cream and chives. After some tweaking and perfecting of this recipe, we renamed it LumberJack and it’s now part of our regular lineup!
