The Best Thing to Hit Hamilton since Sliced Cheese

Hamilton’s food scene has been on the uprise as of late, and quickly becoming a foodie destination talked about outside our city limits. Adding to Hamilton’s food-forward cachet is Ontario’s first and only artisan cheese factory: Udder Way Artisan Cheese Co.
Right inside the old Gos & Gris factory in Stoney Creek, it’s the only Ontario cheese factory producing 100% local goat pyramids – like those native to Quebec – on the regular, with milk from Ontario Dairy Goat Cooperative.
Owner Tor Krueger, who’s also co-owner of Cheese Shoppe on Locke, took to the factory to begin producing all local goat pyramids in five flavours with particularly cheesy names: Snow Peak, French Peak, French Lawn, Chili Billy and Gruner Berg, a nod to his German heritage.
“There’s really no other cheese maker on the market offering what I am,” says Tor, “I wanted to make something local to Ontario and to Hamilton, and even more so, I wanted to make artisan cheese approachable and fun.”

But the real story here is why a local businessman with a passion for cheese made the switch from selling to creating.
After starting up Cheese Shoppe on Locke, Tor knew there was a place in the market for him to create something unique, local and delicious. He received his certification in cheese making from the former Vermont Institute for Artisan Cheese, and that’s how it all began.

The timing was right when the 11,000 sq. ft. factory came up for lease on HWY 20, only fifteen minutes from his own farm and a quick drive away from the Cheese Shoppe on Locke.
Now he’s producing his very own cheese, and also using the space as a retail store offering only the most curated selection of artisan cheeses you won’t find with your local grocer, like Avonlea Cloth Bound and award-winning Fuoco from Quebec, a buffalo milk, soft-washed rind cheese.
Still, the cheese to head into the factory for is Udder Way, with its hundreds-of-years-old recipe, perfectly crafted pyramid shape and creamy texture, it’s worth spot on the most exquisite of cheese trays.

“Hamilton is only growing, and there couldn’t be a better time for us to be up and running.” Says Tor.
And the future’s very bright.
In the New Year, Hamiltonians can head to the Udder Way factory for cheese tasting and making classes with Tor. Beyond just a factory, it will be a destination and foodie hub where cheese fanatics can learn just how the perfect pyramid makes it from goat to table.

You can find Udder Way at Cheese Shop on Locke, Toronto Cheese Boutique and inside the Udder Way Artisan Cheese Co Factory. Be sure to give a smile and a wave to Tor when you go in; he may just let you sample some cheese.

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• Artisan
• Cheese
• Hamilton
• local
• UdderWay