Sierra Nevada Cheese Company

I had their Grazier’s yogurt – best yogurt ever! It stays thick and creamy and doesn’t get watery like other yogurts do. I just learned about the Willows location and can’t wait to stop by the next time I head up to visit family. I love stopping at the Olive Pit, too. Nice to have an additional «destination» pit stop to look forward to.

Well, if they’re trying to show they care, they’re failing miserably both in perception and execution! I bought some of their organic cream cheese. It’s the worst cream cheese I’ve had. Their website claims: «The traditional version has a rich flavor and creamy texture. Garlic & Herb is full of flavor, while maintaining the rich and delicate texture of the Original variety. Both are fresh and spreadably soft.» So, I’m telling you it’s neither rich nor creamy! It’s the blandest cc I’ve ever had. And don’t try to spread it cause it’ll be all over the floor and your shoes. Feel lucky if you can corral any of it on bread, fruit, veg, etc. Now to perception. They provide little information about themselves on their site. If you don’t want to spend time on the phone you have to use their web form to «mail» them. So I did. They didn’t send me the customary auto-​reply acknowledging receipt of the submission nor any reply at all. My conclusion. Their product is lousy and they really don’t care. It tells me they’re smug and arrogant and don’t need my business. So, guess that’ll work out for them. I’ll never buy from them again!

I am a big fan of their smoked cheese. It is the best smoked cheese I have tasted so far. I have eaten it sliced alone or on crackers. I tried it in a recipe with potatoes and it was wonderful. I’ve only found it in certain stores that carry more specialty cheeses so that’s a bummer. I will be interested in trying their other products.

Extremely Delicious ORGANIC RAW CHEDDAR delivered to my door a case at a time. Don’t have to worry about GMO because the Organic Standard FORBIDS GMO feed being used for Organic dairy products. I first bought this cheese from Organic grocery stores in Northern California. Cheese keeps very well if stored properly. Anyway, I eat it up long before it goes bad :)

Above and beyond!
I can’t express how refreshing it is to experience such a high level of customer service.
I sent an email regarding a cheese mishap about 4 days ago and received, today on my doorstep, a Sierra Nevada Cheese Co. fabric reusable shopper bag with 3 varieties of cheeses & a butter.
I’m impressed!

I can say nothing of their other products. I have only tried their solid natural cream cheese and their organic cream cheese. Not the best.
The natural cream cheese has nothing creamy about it. It has a dry and flaky consistency that makes it impossible to spread.
The organic cream cheese is easier to spread, but doesn’t taste like cream cheese. It just tastes like partly solidified cream, or something like an underripened triple-​cream brie or something.
Palatable, not recommended.

Depending on what cycle of the cheese making process, or which way the wind is blowing this place can stink to high heaven! But oh. the cheese is GREAT.
Local markets offer the little 8 oz containers of many of their cheeses (I am sold on their organics personally) But the drive from Chico is well worth the trip. They have specials on the «irregular”(funny cuts/​chunks) that are priced VERY low. and even their retail prices are quite reasonable.
Note the shop is now in the little bungalow now right next to the FEDEX/​UPS/​Ring Bell Door, no longer in the back. Staff is extremely friendly and helpful, and while it seems a long way to go for cheese it is well worth the trip if you buy in bulk.
I stocked up for a while, but I most certainly will be back. and if I move out of the area I will more than likely order some shipped.
Three thumbs up (okay that is a little weird…) to this place.

Both Cream cheese are fantastic, but the company is run by either a group of cheese snobs or they just do not care about making contact with any retail customers. I have tried repeatedly to either get some cases sent to me or find out the nearest distributor. ac few one off emails with no follow through is all I get back. Oh well, all I can do is vote with my feet. the cheese does not taste that great to have to travel a gauntlet of apathy to get it.

Google Maps has no clue where this place is. So, trust me.
Take road 39 exit off the 5 (north of downtown Willows) and head east. There is a quick jog in the road when you hit Hwy 99. But turn left, then an immediate right. That will keep you on Road 39. Follow those shiny stainless steel milk trucks around the corner to some big old buildings with a dirt parking lot and you will have arrived.
Go to the small white buildings in the back, and enter at the middle door with no signs. You’ll walk into a room full of desks. Don’t worry. Trust me. You are in the right place. They will take you into a small lunch room with a small commercial refrigerator. That’s all folks. Now start asking questions because there is no tasting here.
Their specialties are raw cow’s milk cheeses, goat cheese, flavored cheeses, and goat butter. And trust me again, buying it here was a win win. I got a block of cheddar that I saw in another store just down the road, for $ 3 more.
Great cheese at a no nonsense price, and a no nonsense location. Trust me, you’ll be happy you came.

Their «store» was a small glass door fridge in an office. But the woman who helped us knew a LOT about their products and we weren’t rushed or pushed into buying but bought a lot. Go there and get it at its freshest.

Sierra Nevada has great cheese.
This is not exactly a cheese shop, but it is the office of the company. They have a fridge in the conference room. In addition to being able to buy from a complete line of their cheese, the prices are really excellent — 6 pieces of organic premium cheese for $ 22. Had they had goat butter, we would have purchased some.
The woman at the desk completed our order and was really friendly. She answered all of our questions. Ask the desk person which stores in your local area carry their products.
If you are passing by Willows on the way to or from Ashland, (or beyond) you have to stop here. It is only a few miles off of the road.
How to get there without becoming confused: Park at the first opportunity where others are parking; walk down the road to a low building «behind» the main plant; go into the the third door from the left to the right.

Okay, we went TO the dairy in Willows: it’s the place they actually make cheese, not a fru-​fru tasting room with cows and goats artfully arraigned in a Potemkin village. It is really a working creamery and we had to drive around to the back to find the office.
The managerial type (perhaps one of the owners) had sent the office staff to lunch, but he gamely found the price list and showed us the selection they had in a small meeting-​room refrigerator.
Goat butter rocks. It melts from the temperature of your mouth (no matter how innocent you are). The goat cheddar and smoked cheese were really good. They even had real curds. And the cream cheese is noticeably better than even a good market or cheese store.
I’m not suggesting that everyone needs to go to Willows (that’s what a sophisticated transportation system is for), but if you are driving up during the week, drop by. It’s just off Highway 5, past 99, over the railroad tracks, on the right. Perhaps enough retail customers will inspire them to set up a little stand closer to the road with some local produce, bread, and wines.

Simply the best raw milk goat cheese I have ever had. I bought mine at the Whole Foods in Santa Monica, 5^th & Wilshire.

They make honest cream cheese! I bought a container at the Cheese Board in Berkeley and spread it all over some Cheese Board pumpernickel bread. Now that was a great combination! This cream cheese tastes way, way better than Noah’s shmears and it has about 98 fewer ingredients than Noah’s shmears. I got the «traditional,» but there’s also the blueberry, the garlic and chives, and the jalapeño.
SNCC also makes a lot of jack cheese. If you like jack, you’ve probably had some of theirs.