CT cheesemaker wins prestigious award for the second time

Connecticut cheesemaker Arethusa Farm Dairy has received two consecutive awards for the best cheese in the country.

Earlier this month at the United States Championship Cheese Contest in Wisconsin, Arethusa Farm Dairy took home the “Best in Show” award for its Europa cheese.

“This is our version of a Dutch Gouda-styled cheese,” production manager Chris Casiello said.

The cheese is described as savory and brothy, with aromas of butterscotch and toasted nuts.

The competition is held every two years and Arethusa Farm Dairy also won it in 2023, beating out thousands of other cheeses.

“It’s definitely the hardest thing we do,” Casiello said. “You know, it’s definitely the pinnacle of what you can do with the milk.”

Casiello has been with Arethusa Farm Dairy since the beginning. He said they’ve been in production since 2010 first making fluid milk, yogurt and ice cream.

By 2012, they started developing and making cheese.

“We use a million pounds of milk, and we generate about 100,000 pounds of cheese from that,” he said when asked about the yearly production.

The company also has a restaurant, coffee shop and retail scoop store in New Haven.

Damion Davis is one of 30 people employed on the dairy side of the business. He joined the team six months ago and said he loves the cheese and eats is almost every day.  

“It very rewarding to know that this cheese right here is the best in the country,” Davis said.

Working side by side with him is Whitney Hanna, who also joined six months ago.

“It just feels like we’re making something that’s really high quality,” Hanna said. “Everyone cares about it so much.”

For veteran cheesemaker Brea Brousseau, she said Europa is her favorite cheese.

“It’s a really great feeling honestly. It just goes to show that our hard work is out shining in our wheel and people notice it,” Brousseau said.