PORT TOWNSEND — Partners in the North Olympic Peninsula’s only creamery launched into artisan cheese-making on Friday, with an eye on selling product to regional retail markets and restaurants.
Mount Townsend Creamery co-owners Matt Day, Will O’Donnell and Ryan Trail received their city occupancy certificate Thursday and have passed a state Department of Agriculture inspection.
That cleared the way for production Friday afternoon where the cheesemakers, or “fromagers,” wasted no time in producing 150 pounds of tomme cheese and 100 pounds of Camembert.
Mount Townsend Creamery, 338 Sherman St., is a dream come true for the three partners who have invested almost a year and thousands of dollars into building the 2,800-square-foot, state-of-the-art creamery, complete with its own pre-treatment system for wastewater to meet city requirements.
“It will take a couple of years to get up to full capacity,” said O’Donnell.
“We need to build our market.”
The partners plan to produce 600 pounds of cheese a week to start, with the goal of more than tripling capacity during the next two years.
“We’ll definitely be closer to a farmstead than Tillamook,” said Day, referring to the cheese-making facility on the Oregon coast.
