Robin, our head cheesemaker and our creamery crew looks forward to Cheese Club planning every year. It's their opportunity to experiment, get creative and test the limits of our creamery.
Some of our award-winning cheeses were once Club-exclusive offerings - Clothbound Goat Cheddar won Gold at the 2022 American Cheese Society competition and Cabrillo Reserve won Gold and Best of California at the 2023 California State Fair competition.
For one annual payment of $350, enjoy 4 quarterly shipment for a cheese-stocked fridge all year long.
A few other perks of being a Club member:
-Discounts on farm tours
-First access to all seasonal cheese releases and exclusive access to some special-release, small batch cheeses
-A pairing item to accompany that shipment's selection of cheese + packs of artisan crackers from Rustic Bakery. Previous shipments have featured our famous Avocado Blossom Honey, cured meat and marmalade.
-Referral gifts and incentives - buy a membership for a friend/loved one or refer someone to the Club and get a little something special.
Shipments are sent quarterly on the first Monday in February, May, August and November.
November '23 Shipment - Coming Soon
Stay tuned for the November 2023 shipment announcement. We can't say too much, but this is a shipment you won't want to miss... the creamery crew has been hard at work testing new styles of cheese and landed on something never done before in our facility!
All orders will ship on Monday, Nov. 6, 2023.
The August 2023 shipment featured Ragged Point, Paso Vino, Everything Bagel Fromage Blanc and the special release, Cabrillo Grande Reserve. Cabrillo Grande Reserve is the extra-aged version of our year-round, top-selling cheese, Cabrillo, aging for over 2 years.
May 2023 shipment includes Big Sur, Chèvre, Cabrillo and the special release, Clothbound Goat Cheddar.
The February '23 shipment included Moonstone, Marinated Fromage Blanc, LumberJack and the special release, Super Bloom.
Super Bloom is a spin off of Burning Love, a heart shaped large format cow's milk bloomy rind triple crème. Whereas Burning Love is dusted in paprika and other spices before the bloomy transformation, Super Bloom is coated with rose, cornflower and marigold flower petals.
The November '22 shipment included an exclusive cheese never done before in our creamery and one of our favorite Club creations yet. This shipment featured Big Sur, Paso Vino, Cabrillo and the Club-exclusive, Marinated Labneh.
Labneh is a Mediterranean yogurt style soft cheese. Our variation was made with local cow's milk and the cheese balls were lightly rolled in a Za'atar spice blend then marinated in local olive oil with lemon zest. Talk about flavor!
The August '22 shipment featured Ventana, a variation of our year-round offering, Cabrillo, made with 100% farmstead goat's milk. This cheese was inspired after a conversation with Janet Fletcher, cheese lover and owner of the Planet Cheese blog. The shipment also included Ragged Point, Spicy Fromage Blanc and Moonstone.
The May '22 shipment included one of the creamery's most exciting releases. Rocky Butte Reserve was a 2-year aged hard cheese made with 100% farmstead goats milk. The aging process gave this cheese a beautiful orange color, which is drastically different from our seasonal Rocky Butte that's a milky white color. Rocky Butte Reserve was accompanied by Big Sur, Chèvre and LumberJack in this goat-forward shipment.
Back by popular demand was Burning Love in the February '22 shipment along with Moonstone, Marinated Fromage Blanc and Paso Vino.
Remember, joining the Cheese Club is the only way to guarantee you can get these allocations of special release and exclusive offerings.
Cheese Club FAQs
Frequency: Cheese Club shipments are sent quarterly in February, May, August and November.
Payment and Duration: Upon purchase, your credit card is charged for the full price of the Cheese Club membership. All 4 shipments are included in the annual price. An additional shipping charge will be added to your total if you live outside our free shipping states. All memberships auto-renew annually from the date of purchase. We sent emails to members prior to the renewal of memberships as well as before each shipment. Memberships can be cancelled at any time. If you cancel your membership but still have shipments remaining, you will receive those shipments and your membership will stop after the 4 shipments are sent.
Communication: Upon joining the Cheese Club you are automatically added to our email list to receive updates regarding future shipments, special reminders, etc. You can opt-out/unsubscribe at any time through a link in the footer of our emails.
If you have questions about your membership you can email us at info@stepladdercreamery.com and we will get back to you shortly. You can also create a login to access your membership, update your shipping address/credit card, etc. through Shopify.
Member Perks: To start, members get first/exclusive access to specialty cheeses. Each shipment includes a special or exclusive cheese only available to members. Shipments also inlcude signature pairing items like, honey, crackers, jams/marmalades, etc. that are not available elsewhere.
Members also get discounts on our quarterly, Friends & Family and private farm/creamery tours. They also get emails and access to behind-the-scenes content about our cheesemaking process, farm happenings, special events and more.
Members have the ability to schedule private tours for up to 20 people at a discounted rate. *this is subject to change based on tour availability and scheduling.