A unique American original, cloth bound with a zesty earthy flavor
A unique American original blue. cloth bound with a zesty, earthy flavor
A Dutch style cheese with cumin seeds
A traditional milled curd cheddar with thai chilie, basil & mint
A traditional milled curd cheddar with cocoa and guajillo peppers
The addition of Flat Creek Lodge cheese continues to establish Destiny Produce as the premier supplier for local, sustainable and organic products in the Southeast. Winner of the 2008 Small Business of the Year award in Clayton County, Destiny Produce is rapidly expanding its line to include a full range of organic and local products, including meat, seafood, poultry, cheese, grain, meal, packaged foods and an abundant array of organic produce.
“At Destiny Produce, we have built our business by representing local producers,” says Destiny Produce President Dee Dee Digby. “We are delighted to partner with Flat Creek Lodge and offer their amazing, world class cheeses throughout the Southeast. Our shared vision for a vibrant local food system makes this alliance especially strong.”
Flat Creek Lodge dairy thrives under the direction of Head Cheesemaker Dane Huebner, who has developed a diverse array of award-winning artisan cheeses in just two short years. Flat Creek Lodge’s fine cheese has landed in many shops and restaurants, hand-delivered by Huebner. The varieties include Flat Creek Farmhouse, Farmhouse Blue, Aztec Cheddar, and seasonal varieties of Leiden. The alliance with Destiny Produce will allow broader availability throughout the Southeast.
“We are honored to have been selected by Destiny Produce,” says Flat Creek Lodge owner Caroline Harless. “Our mission has always been to practice sustainable agriculture and support the local economy. We have been working hard on our own to get the Flat Creek products into a variety of locations, but the partnership with Destiny Produce will expand our reach a great deal and exactly access our target market.”
Flat Creek Lodge offers a unique experience in Georgia. Located near Swainsboro, Georgia—three hours southeast of Atlanta--Steve and Caroline Harless founded Flat Creek Lodge thirteen years ago. The resort celebrates nature, environmental awareness and local food with sensitive land use, support of the local economy, and its own working farm, including the dairy. Destiny Produce and Flat Creek Lodge both share a vision for strengthening local food systems and green business practices.
Destiny Produce was established in 2001. Strategically located in the State Farmer’s Market complex in Forest Park, just south of Atlanta, Georgia, Destiny Produce serves retailers, resorts, co-ops and buying clubs, as well as institutions. In 2008, Destiny Produce partnered with Emory University in the school’s sustainability initiative, widely regarded as one of the most aggressive programs of its kind in the country. Green business practices at Destiny Produce include the commitment to fueling their trucks with bio-diesel obtained from chicken fat; recycling 99% of all materials entering their warehouse facilities; and supporting the development of sustainable agriculture. Destiny Produce is an active member of Georgia Organics, and the Green Foodservice Alliance, a division of the Georgia Restaurant Association. More information can be found at www.destinyproduce.com
THE BIG CHEESE
Flat Creek Lodge Dairy Places 12th in World Cheese Competition
Atlanta (April 10, 2008) – The results are in, and Flat Creek Lodge Dairy is, in fact, The Big Cheese. Open for less than one year and under the leadership of Head Cheesemaker Dane Huebner only half of that time, Flat Creek Lodge Dairy’s rankings in the recent World Cheese Championship Contest show that not all cheese has to be aged to taste great!
Hosted by the Wisconsin Cheesemakers Association, the 27th Biennial World Cheese Championship—the largest international cheese contest—was held March 11-13 in Madison, Wis. The contest judges cheeses and butters by class; each is evaluated by an international panel of 22 expert judges. Flat Creek Lodge Dairy placed 12th out of 29 places, putting it in the top 43 percent of participants—pretty sweet for a young dairy.
Of course it doesn’t hurt that Huebner, Flat Creek’s Big Cheese, came to the Dairy with plenty of cheese-making credentials. In addition to working in beer production and as a scientist in a bakery, he served as Research Chef and Cheesemaker at Cedar Grove Cheese in Wisconsin, where he developed different cheese and flavors for private label companies, helping them win cheese awards.
With the Flat Creek Lodge Dairy since November, Huebner has been hard at work making local versions of some of his favorite cheeses from around the world, as well as coming up with several of his own American Originals. Since elements like type of milk, microbes and the terroir affect the flavor of every cheese, no cheese can ever be exactly duplicated. So Flat Creek Cheddar will only taste like Flat Creek Cheddar.
GEORGIA DAIRY WINS BLUE RIBBON FROM AMERICAN CHEESE SOCIETY
Flat Creek Lodge Awarded for Caraway Cotija
Swainsboro, Georgia (August 5, 2008) – No stranger to accolades, the young Dairy at Flat Creek Lodge in Southeast Georgia brought home new honors from the prestigious American Cheese Society 25th Anniversary Conference last weekend. The competition was tough - with entries from 181 producers from 30 states and three Canadian provinces, the 2008 American Cheese Society Competition acknowledges the very top cheesemakers on the continent. Flat Creek Lodge won First Place in the Hispanic & Portuguese Flavored category for the Flat Creek Lodge Dairy team’s Caraway Cotija, a drier style of cheese similar to Parmesan with plenty of salt and picante.
“This is an exciting honor for us,” said Flat Creek’s Head Cheesemaker Dane Huebner. “You do your best to select your finest cheeses, but with more than 1,100 entries, it’s definitely a tough competition. The judges put in a lot of effort to sort through everything and find the best cheeses.” In all, the ACS Competition included 15 aesthetic judges and 15 technical judges, making the selection of winners highly professional and making the Award extremely significant.
The American Cheese Society is an active, not for profit, trade organization that encourages the understanding, appreciation and promotion of farmstead and natural specialty cheeses produced in the Americas and Canada. By providing an educational forum for cheesemakers and cheese enthusiasts, the Society fills an important gap in today’s specialty food world. Some ACS members come from small farmstead cheesemakers but they can also be industrial producers, wholesalers, distributors, retail shops, cheese media and cheese enthusiasts. Founded in 1983, ACS membership has grown to include approximately 1,400 members who are also able to work with the federal government concerning issues that involve accepted standards and practices in the production of cheese and fermented dairy products. www.cheesesociety.org
Each year, the ACS hosts the conference and world-renowned cheese competition. Unlike other cheese competitions where cheeses are graded down for technical defects, the American Cheese Society’s goal is to give positive recognition to those cheese that are of the highest quality in the aesthetic evaluation (i.e. flavor, aroma and texture), as well as their technical evaluation. As a result, the highest quality cheeses are those that the Society feels deserve the recognition of an American Cheese Society award, based on a minimum number of points awarded (totally 100 points possible) for First, Second or Third Place. In categories or sub-categories where the minimum number of points is not earned, no award was given for that category or sub-category.
“Winning this year is great inspiration for us and truly validates our efforts,” said Huebner. “We are looking forward to even better things next year.”
In addition to the blue ribbon Caraway Cotija, the Flat Creek Lodge Dairy produces a full line of artisanal cheeses including: Cheddars – Aged, Horseradish, Aztec and Thai Chili; Onion Mustard Kase; smoked cheeses such as Smokin’ Jack; the original Flat Creek Farmhouse and Farmhouse Blue; Dutch–style Leiden and cheeses flavored with herbs and other produce from the Flat Creek Lodge greenhouses. All of the cheeses are made from raw milk except the Flat Creek Feta, which is pasteurized. New Flat Creek Lodge cheese creations will be perfectly aged and ready soon including the Aged Stir Curd, Grana Kalamata Olive and White Wine Feta and the unique Vidalia Onion Kase.
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Artisan Farmhouse 
Artisan Farmhouse Blue 
Artisan Leiden 
Artisan Thai Chili Cheddar 
Artisan Aztec Cheddar 
