‘Cheese with Altitude’ to culminate with Festival of Cheese

Denver, Colo. (PRWEB) May 16, 2017 -- The foremost educational conference and world-renowned cheese
competition in the Americas will take place in Denver, Colo., July 26-29, 2017. Over 1,300 cheese and
specialty food professionals are expected to attend the American Cheese Society’s (ACS) 34th Annual
Conference & Competition, ‘Cheese with Altitude’ at the Sheraton Denver Downtown Hotel and surrounding
venues.

More than 1,800 different cheese products are expected to be judged in the ACS Judging & Competition, with
the top cheese named ‘Best of Show’. The public can sample and purchase competition cheeses at the Festival
of Cheese and Cheese Sale on Saturday, July 29, from 7:00 – 9:30pm. Proceeds from the Cheese Sale benefit
the nonprofit American Cheese Education Foundation. Tickets can be purchased at http://tinyurl.com/cheesewith-altitude.

“We are excited to bring this important event to Denver,” said Nora Weiser, executive director of ACS. “More
producers than ever are venturing into artisan, farmstead, and specialty cheesemaking to meet growing
consumer demand for unique, local, natural cheeses. This event brings our industry together to network and
learn, while showcasing a vast array of award-winning cheeses – there’s really something that every cheese
lover can enjoy,” she noted.

According to the Specialty Food Association, cheese was the top category of specialty food sales in 2015, at
more than 4 billion dollars—a 15 percent increase from 2013. The prestigious ACS Judging & Competition will
recognize cheeses for their aesthetic and technical merits. Entries will be judged blindly over two days by 42
internationally renowned judges. The winners will be revealed at the Awards Ceremony on Fri, July 28. The
“Festival of Cheese” on July 29 will allow Conference attendees and the public to taste competition cheeses
while sampling craft beer, cider, and specialty foods.

Education plays a central role at the event, including:
• Opening keynote: ‘Resilient Teamwork and Leadership’ with mountain climber Jim Davidson, author of ‘The
Ledge – An Inspirational Story of Friendship and Survival’, (Random House/Ballantine Books, 2012)
• More than 40 educational sessions geared toward cheesemakers, retailers, and distributors
• Ticketed tasting sessions, including: ‘Hops vs. Malt’; ‘Building the Olive & Cheese Pairing Playground’; ‘Far
Out! Unconventional Cheese Pairings’, ‘Enjoying Cheese with Chocolate and Beer’, and ‘I Got 99 problems,
But a Bicyclic Monoterpenoid Ain’t One’.
• Strategy sessions on food safety, business, and retail (advance reservation required)
• ACS Certified Cheese Professional® Exam
• ‘Meet the Cheesemaker’: Conference attendees can meet and sample cheese and cultured dairy products from
more than 80 producers

Registration for Cheese with Altitude is available at www.cheesesociety.org. Press passes are available to
qualified individuals upon request.