How Beer Helped Save a Pennsylvania Creamery

When the COVID-19 pandemic hit the US, the Caputo Brothers Creamery’s business dried up. Established in 2011 by owners Rynn Caputo and her husband David, Caputo Brothers Creamery is family-owned and located in Spring Grove, the heart of the Central Pennsylvania dairy region. The Caputos focus on Italian style cheeses that they learned to make in Calabria, Italy and source their milk from local family-owned dairy farms. Shuttered restaurants nationwide stopped ordering Caputo Brothers cheese, including their top-selling mozzarella made from naturally fermented cheese curds. They had to close their on-site restaurant and their retail shop, and the creamery cancelled its culinary tours to Italy. “No one was buying cheese, so we had to take a hard look at shutting down the business,” said Rynn Caputo. “We had lost every ounce of revenue almost overnight.”

The Caputos had a longstanding relationship with supermarket chain The Giant Company who sold its cheeses, including for the past two years, a beer cheese made in collaboration with Troegs Independent Brewing, located in nearby Hershey, Pa. As the country was shutting down last March, they were already working on making a cheese for this Christmas season using Troegs’ popular holiday beer Mad Elf Ale. The whopping 11% abv. Belgian strong dark ale combines cherries, honey, and chocolate malts that delivers gentle fruit flavors and subtle notes of cinnamon, clove and allspice that warm up any cold night.

At that time, Caputo Brothers and Giant were about to launch a beer cheese with Troeg’s Perpetual, an imperial IPA. “I asked Giant if we could still count on the revenue from making a Mad Elf for the late fall,” Caputo said. “If we could do that and get Paycheck Protection Program funding (PPP) we said we might be OK.” Eight months later, Mad Elf Beer Cheese -- which hit store shelves in October -- has done more than help keep the lights on at the creamery, it has helped rescue the Caputo family business, which employs two dozen workers, and its helped save the two dairy farms that supply the milk for the beer cheese.

In short, Mad Elf saved Christmas for them all.

Strong demand for the cheese that’s sold at Giant stores across Pennsylvania has kept all Caputo Brothers workers employed. “If we did not have the contract for Mad Elf coming, we would have shut down and we would not have been here today,” Caputo said. She says she is heartened that the cheese has done more than save her own creamery, which is named after the couple’s two boys and produces about 250,000 pounds of cheese a year. “Making a good beer cheese is a great thing but to have saved two dairy farms because of it, that is exciting,” she said. “There is a lot wrong with the world today and we can’t change all of it. But if we can change the economic stability of our dairy farms that’s what we always talk about with sustainable agriculture.”

With milk prices falling and consumption waning as consumers face a litany of other beverage options, the dairy industry needs the help. The number of dairy farms in the United State fell by 9% in 2019 to 34,187, according to latest USDA milk production data. Hundreds of dairy farms have closed since 2018 in Pennsylvania, which used to be one of the nation’s largest milk producers. Initially hesitant to make a beer cheese because it would move from their focus on mozzarella, Caputo Brothers embraced the partnership knowing that the increase demand for milk could help save a Pennsylvania dairy farm.

The Mad Elf Beer Cheese has a creamy, smooth texture but doesn’t taste anything like the strong dark ale it’s named for. It’s a rather mild taste but with cinnamon, chocolate and espresso coloring the rind that gives it a more complex and slightly sweet flavor. Caputo says the cheese brings out some of the subtle tastes of Mad Elf beer but also pairs well with sour beers. In many ways, the cheese is like the best craft beers-- approachable but sophisticated at the same time.

The planning for Mad Elf cheese began last December. Caputo knew she wanted to use a Gouda as the base and get the cheese to their curd state before lathering it all with a full keg of the dark brew. After marinating the curds in beer, the curds are pressed together so the beer gets inside the cheese as its being pressed into a wheel which is also bathed in Mad Elf beer. Then one day, a Caputo Brothers cheesemaker dropped some cheese on some chocolate donuts he had brought into work for his birthday and ate it. Further experimentation led to mixing Hershey’s chocolate and some cinnamon with the cheese, “I thought no way can this taste good, but it was amazing,” said Caputo. That was the inspiration to add a dry rub of chocolate, cinnamon and expresso to the rind, boosting the flavor after the curds were pressed and aged. The spice rind helps bring out the sweetness from the beer that’s made with cherries and honey. Caputo said she would like to see cheesemakers interact more with their consumers like craft brewers do in their tasting rooms. That’s why when they started their business, they set up shop on a main street in a small town just outside York, Pa. She sees beer cheese as the gateway to get craft beer lovers interested in cheese and cheese making. Mad Elf cheese will help with that goal. “It’s much more interesting than a block of cheddar,” she said of Mad Elf cheese. But knowing that the cheese is helping to save two dairy farms is what makes it exceptional.

Starting with the milk from nearby dairies, everything about the cheese comes from central Pennsylvania. Along with the Hershey chocolate, the spice rub is made by Calicutts Spice in Hershey and the ground espresso comes from Little Amps Coffee Roasters in Harrisburg. The cheese mirrors the Troeg’s Mad Elf beer native ingredients. Brewed once a year with local cherries, dark malts and 25,000 pounds of Pennsylvania honey, Mad Elf offers subtly sweet notes of cherry and chocolate. “I am a huge cheese lover,” said John Trogner, brewmaster and one of the two founding brothers of Troegs. “But I never considered that beer could be of use to help a dairy farm.” Like other businesses, Troeg’s was hit hard by the pandemic as sales to restaurants slowed and the brewery had to close its onsite restaurant for a couple months before reopening to limited capacity. He looks forward to seeing a Caputo’s Perpetual Beer Cheese return early next year made with Troeg’s best-selling IPA. “If they are ready to play with more cheese, so are we,” he said.

In addition to the Mad Elf cheese, Caputo Brothers has found some new ways to survive the economic challenges of 2020. They have moved their retail business online and offer both mail order and curbside pickup. They’ve also developed online mozzarella and provolone cheese making classes that have proved popular. Meanwhile, Caputo hopes the beer cheese with Troegs expands distribution next year. She will consider other brewery collaborations as well. “We definitely see more beer cheese in our future,” she said.

The Mad Elf Beer Cheese is available while supplies last at all 185 Giant and Heirloom stores, Martin’s across Pennsylvania. Mad Elf is also available online from Caputo Brothers along with "Cracked Elf" the fresh curds that are the precursor to Mad Elf, the finished aged cheese. The curds are marinated in an amber pool of Mad Elf to soak up those cherry and honey flavors, along with tastes of toasted grains, cream, and salt. Since these curds are un-aged, they offer a mix of creamy texture with some saltier bits from where the forms hit the brine. Caputo recommends melting curds over French fries or piled onto a cheese board alongside a jam or honey.

Phil GalewitzDecember 16, 2020