Beecher’s Handmade Cheese
100% pure tasty goodness
BY CAROL BANKS WEBER
Tasty, wholesome, and wholeheartedly farm-to-table, Beecher’s Handmade Cheese has quickly risen in the ranks to become a major player in the specialty market, an established NW brand.
Kurt Beecher Dammeier opened his flagship store at Pike Place Market in 2003, with the aim of sharing his love of pure, unadulterated cheese. Everyday, crowds gather at Beecher’s glass-walled, cheese making kitchen to watch artisans craft wholesome, toothsome cheeses, including the award-winning Flagship and Flagship Reserve — a clothbound, open- air aged cheddar.
Cheesemakers work their magic, following age-old, traditional methods.
Cheesemakers work their magic, following age-old, traditional methods, with the benefit of fresh milk flowing from on-site holding tanks. Beecher’s gets its milk from healthy Holstein and Jersey cows at Monroe’s Groeneveld Farms and Duvall’s Green Acres Dairy. “We believe the freshness of the milk directly affects the flavor and quality of the cheese, and working with local farmers also ensures we’re getting the highest quality milk,” according to Dammeier, owner/founder of Beecher’s Handmade Cheese.
Lucky for you, there’s a Beecher’s at Paine Field Passenger Terminal, along with a Caffe Vita, and Upper Case bar. “We do not make cheese at the airport (we joke sometimes about getting milk through security – can you imagine?),” he says.
In addition to the cheese selection, Beecher’s cafe features snacks, meals, and takeaways: “World’s Best” Mac & Cheese, Brett’s Tuna Sandwich, Tomato Flagship Soup, Grilled Cheese Sandwiches.
“For our Café grilled cheese sandwiches, we’ve partnered with WSU’s Bread Lab and Grand Central Bakery to make a bread that is specifically formulated to be not just tasty – but good for you!,” Dammeier notes.
The nutrient-rich Skagit Valley Wheat Sandwich Loaf owes its mouthful of hearty, sweet goodness to Cairnspring Mills and Skagit Valley Malting’s flours. Additive-and-white-flour-free, the grains (Cairnspring Mills’ Yecora Rojo, a hard, red wheat varietal, and Copeland barley, malted at Skagit Valley Malting and milled by Fairhaven Mills) are just as pure and local as Beecher’s handmade cheeses.
“Everything produced by Beecher’s, from the handcrafted cheeses to the delicious side dishes and crackers, is authentic, original, full-flavored food made with ingredients we trust and are proud of,” Dammeier explains.
This all leads back to our mission to ‘Change the way America eats.’
“This means we stay clear of all harmful, industrial, highly processed artificial ingredients like flavor enhancers, preservatives, and food coloring. And we believe that not only should everyone have the ability to know what is in the foods they eat, but if they know what is in their foods, they will choose to eat foods free of these artificial ingredients. To this end, we donate 1% of all sales to The Beecher’s Foundation. Through community food education programs, the Foundation educates and inspires people to eat real food and vote with every food dollar. This all leads back to our mission to ‘Change the way America eats.’”
Beecher’s Handmade Cheese
Visit: beechershandmadecheese.com
Locations:
Seattle | Bellevue | Sea-Tac Airport | Paine Field – Everett | New York
Newest Location: Beecher’s Handmade Cheese Store & Cafe
Paine Field Passenger Terminal
3308 100th St. SW, Everett
