We wandered into Blue Heron first. Located right off the main road, it's a converted farm that offers multiple free samples of cheese, jams, jellies, and cracker spreads. Naturally, we had to taste them all. Starting with the brie at the counter the girl working told us about the basics of how the cheese is made, different things they add to spice it up, pepper and garlic and the like, and spread generous samples on bits of bread for us to try. It was roughly the equivalent to a sampler bread plate at a fancy restaurant, free to anyone who walks in and asks. Next we tried some jams ranging from sweet to spicy and everything in between. I think there were ten or so options. Then on to the spreads, which were spiced packets that are mixed at home with cream cheese. Then some jellies. We saw the barbecue sauces AND read the sign warning us to wait until after we did we a wine tasting to avoid interference with the palette. Good advice, that.
Blue Heron provides a tasting of local and french wines, some of which are their own. Tillamook is located too near the coast to grow the grapes, but their vineyard is only an hour away. Fun fact: area hotels typically have a little advertisement for Blue Heron tasting, free for one person. We had such a coupon not realizing it was only for one person, but they offered to let us share the tasting. The coupon was for 3 free tastings, and after that we opted to buy another 5 tastings for $10 (which we split again, they were super nice about it and not snooty like some places). We bought a bottle of their XXXX and some spicy spreads for stocking stuffers before heading out into the small petting zoo. The whole experience is very family friendly, with a small restaurant serving their cheeses in various forms and an ice creamery onsite. We came for the wine and cheese but were impressed with the overall vibe of the place. Just very pleasant.
Disclaimer: As always, our reviews are our own, honest opinions and may differ from yours.
I like to wrap cressant roll dough around brie and bake it to light golden brown. You can scoop the cheese on the pieces of cressant rook.This place seems like the perfect place for me to visit.I love good cheeses.
ReplyDeleteThey suggested that same recipe, adding cranberries!
ReplyDeleteI would love to go to a cheeserie! I've had Tillamook, but Blue Heron is new to me. This sounds like a fun idea for when we visit Oregon in spring.
ReplyDeleteYou can order the Blue Heron brie cheeses online. They also have great gift baskets and their smoked brie is amazing!
ReplyDeleteWe're crazy cheese people in this family! The brie is right up my alley. Good for the holidays.
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