The San Francisco Cheese Fest 2024 Preview

The SF Cheese Fest is back for the 9th time on September 21st, 2024, and for the second year in a row, it will be held at the iconic SF Ferry Building. The event offers a first peek at some new cheeses along with a variety of preserves, chocolate, and charcuterie, as well as local beer and wine. This year the VIP ticket offers more than just early entry—a guided tour with a cheese professional.

The Cheese Professor is a proud sponsor of the event and is pleased to offer readers a 10% discount on General Admission tickets between now and September 10 with the code ChProf10.

The VIP Experience

Sarah Simms Hendrix with Samantha Sheehan of Mommenpop

There are limited tickets available for the VIP experience which begins with a tour to meet 3 cheesemakers, led by one of 5 cheese professionals including cheesemongers Luciana Villanueva of Gus's Community Market (SF), Sarah Simms, President of the California Artisan Cheese Guild and co-owner of Lady & Larder (read more about Lady & Larder), and Brandon Wood of The Cheese Parlor in Livermore. Each of the guides or “cheese sommeliers” has at least 10 years of experience in the cheese industry. On the tour guests will enjoy 4 curated perfect bites showcasing artisanal cheese. Luciana Villanueva shares, "What I am most thrilled about is the intimate journey we're crafting for our guests. By pairing small groups with seasoned cheese sommeliers, we're not just offering tastings—we're curating experiences. Each bite becomes a story, each cheese a character, and every artisan a narrator in this gastronomic adventure. It's a celebration of craftsmanship where the subtle nuances of flavor meet the passion of the cheesemakers, creating moments of discovery that linger long after the last morsel is savored.” After the tour guests will have a chance to visit the other cheesemakers before the doors open for general admission.

While we don't want to share all the details, we can tell you that the cheesemakers will be bringing out cheeses that epitomize their craft, in many cases small batch cheeses that are made infrequently, not widely distributed or made exclusively for SF Cheese Fest. After the tour, there will be 20-30 minutes of mingling with culinary artisans, first dibs on cheeses and pairings and drinks at the bar.

Bohemian Creamery cheese plate from Outside Lands

Bohemian Creamery will be serving a cheese called El Chaparro, created specifically for the VIP portion of the festival. According to Webster Marquez, "El Chaparro was born by a bit of frustration – why is it that we cook with specifically European herbs? Why not use "Herbes de California" instead of, say, 'Herbes de Provence?' We wanted, instead, to use the excitingly aromatic plants you can find along the Sonoma Coast. So we made a crumbly, month-aged goat cheese and coated the rind with a mix of foraged herbs from the Sonoma Coast: hummingbird sage, artemisia, fennel pollen, and Douglas-fir tips. This process creates an exciting cheese that tastes almost exactly like a breezy hike on the coast. The wheels weigh roughly three pounds."

Webster says they'll also bring two other cheeses, Heatwave and Bête à cornes (French for horned cattle) to serve during the general admission portion of the evening.

Omer Seltzer of Mt. Eitan at the California Artisan Cheese Festival photo credit Lee Sherman

Omer and Tal Seltzer of Mt. Eitan Cheese, favorites from the California Artisan Cheese Festival will be participating for the first time and this marks their first San Francisco in-person event. It will also be the debut of their goat milk cheese made with milk from Redwood Hill goat farm. Omer Seltzer reports that they are excited to be working with Redwood Hill goat farm and organic Straus milk to make their artisan cheese. It's a great example of a small, artisan cheese maker collaborating with larger, older more established dairies, a great example of how producers support one another. Although Redwood Hill was sold and discontinued the Redwood Hill branded production of kefir and yogurt, the farm is once again producing milk that goes into artisan cheese - and that’s how Omer Seltzer explains that the collaboration started. He also shares a story of sustainability - the cheese whey is going to Fox Sparrow Farm in Petaluma, and Three Springs Community Farm in Bodega.

We're fans of Beehive Cheese, and even though they are from Utah, they are members of the guild. According to Candace Allen, the VIP session will feature TruffleHive which although not a new cheese is a very small batch cheese that is hard to find in the area.

Cheesemakers & Cheeses

Beehive Cheese award winners photo credit Beehive Cheese

Other cheeses from Beehive (read more about Beehive) will include Apple Walnut Smoked, the current smoked cheese category winner for ACS, Red Butte Hatch Chile, the current Cheddar with pepper added category winner for ACS, Barely Buzzed, the American Artisan Original cheese that started the rubbed rind cheese movement, Queen Bee Porcini which was awarded best American Artisan Cheese in 2021 and won a World Cheese awards Super Gold in 2021 as well as Promontory their most awarded cheese and the original Cheddar that all of their cheese come from and TeaHive, an amazing cheese with a cult-like following that we recently featured in our story on tea infused cheeses.

Cypress Grove will offer Humboldt Fog in its three stages: young, ripe, and mature. They will also be bringing Midnight Moon, Purple Haze, and Meyer Lemon and Honey. Read more about Cypress Grove.

Laura Chenel will serve its new Pear, Wine & Rosemary Log. A cheese inspired by local ingredients.

We had a chance to try some exciting new cheeses from Marin French Cheese Co. at the Summer Fancy Food Show and anticipate that they will make an appearance as well. We can share that they will offer Prospector, their triple creme brie with black truffle.

Read more about the cheesemakers we've featured who will be in attendance including: Cowgirl Creamery, Pennyroyal, Pt. Reyes Farmstead, and Wm. Cofield.