Face Rock Creamery Introduces Face2Face Mixed Milk Cheddar
Cow and Sheep Milk Meet Common Ground in Artfully Blended Aged Cheddar
BANDON, Ore. (August 3, 2020) – Face Rock Creamery announces the launch of Face2Face, its first mixed-milk cheddar. The 12-month aged cheddar is made from a perfectly balanced blend of milk sourced from cow and sheep farmers located on the Southern Oregon coast.
“Keeping our production local and supporting small Oregon dairy farmers is at the heart of our creamery. So we’re thrilled to be able to get our cow’s milk 15 miles east of the creamery, and our sheep’s milk is just 15 miles south,” shared Face Rock President Greg Drobot. “In Face2Face, our cheesemaking mastermind Brad Sinko has brought together the best elements of cow and sheep cheddars, and we’re excited to get this cheese out to everyone.”
For their sheep milk, Face Rock has partnered with Woodrow Farms Sheep Dairy in Langlois, Oregon. Farming entrepreneurs Woody Babcock and Cora Wahl opened their sheep dairy parlor in 2018 and are currently milking 200 Friesian ewes. Similar to its long-standing relationship with the Milk-E-Way Dairy, a
Holstein and Brown Swiss herd owned by the Scolari family in the Coquille Valley, Face Rock enters into an annual contract for milk produced by Woodrow’s herd. This is a beneficial relationship that shields both the creamery and the farmers from the vagaries of market-rate purchasing and allows the farmers to better forecast for growth and production.
“Working with Face Rock Creamery, right down the road, is about as good as it gets,” shared Babcock. “It’s
convenient and we get to try the product in our own community first! Having the support of Face Rock made our start up possible. We wouldn’t have been able to launch the dairy if it weren’t for them jumping on board to work with our milk.”
Face2Face is a beautifully balanced cheddar that offers a dense, creamy base from high butterfat cow milk and a slight salty piquancy from the sheep milk. Face2Face is available in 6 oz. and 8 oz. blocks for retail and direct consumer sales, and 9 lb. loafs for foodservice. It’s also available as a compact 7 lb. clothbound wheel, aged for a minimum of 13-months. Face Rock takes a unique approach to its clothbound process by coating the wheels in butter made on site at the creamery using the same milk that goes into the cheese.
About Face Rock Creamery
Launched in May, 2013, Face Rock Creamery makes fine cheddar and Fromage Blanc in the southern coastal town of Bandon, Oregon, an area known for cheese making since the 1880s. Face Rock cheese is available at the creamery, through the online store, and in retail locations across a growing swath of the United States.