Three weeks out from the flagship conference feels like a long way off, so it's easy to let a smaller workshop slide past unnoticed. Consider this the nudge: registration is open for the Birch cohort's Alpine Styles workshop, an in-person, hands-on session running September 7 in Querétaro, and seats are capped because the format depends on it.
This isn't a lecture hall event. Members will work in small groups around a bank of makes, comparing washed-curd technique across three or four styles in the Alpine tradition — think dense paste, a rind that's been actively managed rather than left alone, and a make schedule that rewards patience over speed. If your background is fresh and lactic cheeses, this is deliberately outside your comfort zone, which is the point. Hands-on workshops like this one have had a good run this season across the artisan world generally, and the demand tells us members are hungry for time at the vat with people who make something different from what they make at home.
Who this is for
The workshop assumes you've made cheese before — this isn't Cheese Foundations territory — but it doesn't assume Alpine experience. Past cohorts have drawn a mix of people: a cheddar maker curious about a different curd-handling approach, a hobbyist-turned-professional testing whether Alpine styles fit her case, an affineur who wants to understand the make before the cheese ever reaches the cave. If any of that sounds like you, this is a reasonable use of a September Wednesday.
Because it's paid and in person, plan for travel in addition to the registration fee. We've heard from a few members already weighing whether the trip pencils out given how much freight and fuel have cost this year — a fair question, and one we can't answer for you. Margin protection programs at the federal level have seen real enrollment growth this year for exactly this reason: producers hedging against a wider gap between milk price and input cost than they're used to planning around. A workshop trip is a smaller version of the same math. What we can say is that past attendees have consistently told us the hands-on time was worth the trip, and that a few finished the day and immediately reworked their own wash schedule at home.
What to bring
Wear clothes you don't mind smelling like brine for the rest of the day, and bring a notebook — the instructor moves through variations quickly enough that photos alone won't capture the sequence. If you have a current Cheese Foundations Certificate or equivalent hands-on experience, note it on your registration; it helps the workshop team group tables by skill level rather than alphabetically.
Bring questions about your own cave, too. Alpine styles live and die on the maturation room, and the instructor has fielded everything from humidity troubleshooting to rind-wash schedules from past attendees who came for the make and stayed for the conversation about what happens after it.
Space is limited, and late summer has been a busy season for events across the federation, so if you've been meaning to register, this week is a good one to do it in. Questions about fit, format, or the make schedule can go to the Events Committee.
The International Cheese Federation (ICF) and More Cheese are entirely fictional. This post is demonstration content created for MemberJunction. All people, organizations, events, courses, certifications, figures, and quotations in it are invented, and nothing here represents a real association, a real business, a real person, or real professional advice.