A Cheese Lovers Guide to Colorado | The Cheese Professor

Colorado is full of contradictions—it’s hippies and cowboys, ski slopes and tumbleweed, ranchers, and artisans. It may be best known for its outdoor recreation and craft beers, but there’s a thriving cheese scene here, full of surprising flavors and textures. Around the state, cheesemakers are experimenting and getting stunning (ok, award-winning) results. Denver—aka the Mile High City—is the dividing marker of the state, flanked by the Rocky Mountains on the west and the plains to the east. In the center of it all, Colorado’s capital city is a great place for turophiles to explore. The city offers several ways to explore the local product paired with a delicious drink or travel further afield to visit actual production sites.

So Damn Gouda

This cheese shop couldn’t have a more Colorado backstory. Owner Mike Keuler is a former Olympic Nordic ski jumper turned chef turned cheesemonger. After leaving the world of professional athletics, he trained as a chef and worked at the illustrious Boulder restaurant, Frasca, lead the cured meats and cheese department at a local specialty store, and launched a cheese plate delivery business. In 2018, he bought Cheese + Provisions, a Sunnyside neighborhood staple with a dedicated following. Now renamed So Damn Gouda, it is a cheese-lovers delight, offering both internationally and locally-sourced cheeses, charcuterie, wines, and other necessities like bread and olives. On the menu: Funkmeister, an aged, washed rind cheese made from organic cow’s milk from beloved Longmont creamery, Haystack Mountain. Also keep an eye out for locally made jam from Red Camper, handmade caramels from Helliemae’s, and pickles from The Real Dill.

St. Kilian’s Cheese Shop

32nd Street, in North Denver’s Highland neighborhood, is a walkable block lined with restaurants, cafes, and retail shops, among them St. Kilian’s, a cheesemonger who’s been an area cornerstone for 20 years. The shop borders Mondo Vino, which like the name suggests, offers wine and select craft beers and other adult beverages to go with your cheese. St. Kilian’s was at the forefront of the cheese movement in Denver and they are the area experts. They have a vast selection of cheese (from local and global sources), salumi and charcuterie (like locally made River Bear and Tender Belly meats), accouterments (like baked goods from award-winning local fave, Babette’s), pantry goods and sweets, and a handful of fresh meats and dairy products. From across the pond, like England’s Neal’s Yard Cheddar to Manchego and closer-to-home Cypress Grove’s Midnight Moon and Humboldt Fog, St. Kilian’s vast selection is mouth-watering. They have meal kits (like sausage and porcini pasta dinner that features locally made Carmine Lonardo’s sausage, plus, sauce, pasta, and cheese) that you can whip up at your Airbnb or they will create a cheese-laden snack tray for you--perfect for a Sunday night City Jazz concert at City Park.

Marczyk Fine Foods

In 2002, the Uptown neighborhood and Denver, in general, was spotty at best when it came to specialty foods. If you wanted to find quality ingredients or source anything conscientiously, it was a challenge: you’d have to go to several shops. Pete Marzcyk wanted a one-stop shop like he had found in other cities, but because he couldn’t find one in Denver, he made one, taking over a defunct Safeway and creating a hub of gourmet groceries. With a focus on local ingredients and additional locations, Marcyzk’s is a great stop for everything you need. It has a world-class cheese counter, sourcing cheeses of all kinds from near and far and displaying them in their wrap-around cooler case including their hand-pulled mozzarella which they make daily, a selection of Haystack Mountain Creamery cheese and their own triple crème brie and cave-aged Karst. Another top pick is Prairie Breeze, a sweet style cheddar.

The Truffle Cheese Shop

The Truffle Cheese Shop and the Truffle Table are the dynamic duo of the Denver cheese scene: one is a full service cut-to-order cheese shop with a sister restaurant that focuses on cheese. The Truffle Cheese Shop is the longest-running store in Denver, fulfilling the city’s cheese, charcuterie, and sundries needs. They source hard-to-find cheeses like the world-famous Rogue River Blue, small format bries like Woolwich Dairy’s Goat Brie, and local darling Fruition Farms’ Sheep’s Milk Ricotta. You can peruse the shop, have cheese delivered, order custom gift boxes, join the cheese of the month club, and order custom-made cheese platters--you can even take an online Burrata-making class. At the Truffle Table, a little jewel box of a space with just a few tables indoors and a few tables outdoors, the menu is centered around shareable plates like baked brie with slices of baguette, Korean BBQ meatballs, and marinated olives. The wines (a mix of old and new world) are in the lineup with local craft beers and classic cocktails. One thing is consistent throughout both shops--the owners’ commitment to sharing their love of traditional, organic foods from around the globe.

Daytrip: Longmont, Lyons and Boulder

Longmont, a rapidly growing city an hour north of Denver, is known as being both an agricultural hub and a hotbed of artisan foods. It’s a great first stop on a day trip, where you can start at Haystack Mountain Goat Dairy. They’re behind more than 20 award-winning cheeses ranging from fresh to aged. Take a tour of the facility and pick up some goods.

Longmont is home to The Art of Cheese, a cheesemaking school that offers live and virtual classes. They’ll also do a hands-on private class for small groups. Longmont is also home to the Cheese Importers Warehouse, a wholesaler that features more than 350 varieties of cheese and the state’s largest cheese and salumi walk-in refrigerator. The shop also has a wide selection of housewares and goodies with a French country vibe--you can wander for hours among the aisles.

Nearby Lyons (about a 20-minute drive) is a historic town with a quaint main street nestled in a tree-lined canyon with a river running through it on the way to Rocky Mountain National Park. Local eatery Bella La Crema is the world’s first butter bar, where owner Shauna Lee Strecker makes artisanal butter with cream from grass-fed cows. Grab a flight of butters, served with a crusty baguette, and enjoy Lyons’ small-town ambiance.

The last stop on the cheese tour day trip is Boulder, home to Cured, located on Pearl St., a pedestrian mall known for its shops and restaurants. Cured’s mission is to preserve a personal connection to food. Owned by Will and Coral Frischkorn, the shop has a hand-picked (and frequently rotating) selection of cheeses, charcuterie, wines, Colorado beers and spirits, and other specialty items. They also offer sandwiches, salads, and pastas available to go. Returning to Denver, about a 30-minute drive from Boulder, will complete the loop.