In 1976, Judy Schad and her husband left the suburbs and moved out to a small farm in Southern Indiana with their three children. Their goal was to raise their family sustainably, but Judy never expected to fall in love with her affectionate goats. She taught herself how to transform her goats’ milk into chèvre and accidentally became a pioneer in the American Artisan Cheese movement – it was the 1980s, and hardly any goat cheese was commercially available in the US. Judy became one of only a handful of people (all women!) making cheese with goat’s milk, and her work ended up transforming the entire cheese industry. 

Since then, all of Capriole’s cheeses have had uniquely bright, clean, and silky characteristics that are attributed to a 17 hour lactic fermentation and gentle hand-ladling. Judy is now retired, though she still pops into the creamery from time to time to check on things, while her grandson Samuel runs the business. To this day the Capriole cheeses remain some of the most exceptional handmade goat cheeses on the market, and they’ve been favorites of ours for a very long time.