In 2003, brothers Andy and Mateo Kehler launched Jasper Hill Farm in Greensboro, Vermont. With a herd of 40 Ayrshire cows, and a creamery built adjacent to the barn, they set out to create a model for small scale agricultural profitability. Their goal was to preserve agricultural land in Vermont, and create jobs in the area. Over the past two decades Jasper Hill Farm has become a pillar of the American artisan cheese industry.

Today their milk is sourced primarily from their own herd at Andersonville Farm in Glover, Vermont. All of their raw milk cheeses – Caspian, Alpha Tolman, Bayley Hazen, Whitney, and Winnemere – are made at their on-site creamery in Greensboro. Their pasteurized cheeses – Harbison, Little Hosmer, Willoughby, and Moses Sleeper – are made at their creamery in Hardwick at the Food Venture Center. Cabot Clothbound and Vault No. 5 are part of The Cellars program, wherein they collect green (young) cheese from other cheesemakers (currently Cabot Creamery), and age them in their network of seven underground vaults. Each cave maintains distinct temperature and humidity levels, calibrated for different cheese styles, allowing them to age in the perfect environment, under the watchful eye of a skilled affineur. 

Jasper Hill talks a lot about “A Taste of Place.” Essentially this is their version of the concept of terroir – the characteristic flavors imparted by the environment in which a product is made. In order to fully express that taste of place, Jasper Hill Farm’s cows graze on lush pasture grasses from May to October. Throughout the summer they cut, bale, and dry their own hay to ensure the cows have plenty of local feed to last them through the winters. All this work pays off in the exceptional quality of their milk and the “taste of place” in their cheese.