After a few tablespoons of Ocean Vodka in the tasting, it was time to ease on up the road a half mile to the Surfing Goat Dairy where primo goat cheese has been made for nearly a decade. With a sweeping driveway of palm trees in a row, you see the goats in the field of which there are five or so types. The cute baby goats are kept in a small compound next tot he tasting room and store with their tiny horns and grins making them cuties.
Three lucky bucks get to service over a hundred does cavorting on the 42 acres up the side of lower Kula. Former German software engineer Thomas Kafsack gave up teaching high school German and moved with his wife Eva to start up a goat cheese business. It’s grown incredibly with his varieties of soft and hard cheeses featured at many of the top hotels and fine dining restaurants across the Islands.
You can also find them at the many farmers markets on Maui. The cheeses are divided up into three categories; Shark Bites which is super premium, Aloha which is either plain or blended with many herbs and fruits and the Paradise line which features aged goat cheese in various oils, spices and in wax. You can see the lines at Surfing Goat’s Menu Page.
The top ones to me are Oyster in a 2 oz jar with gourmet smoked oysters, Perigord which is laced with black truffles and they even have one with gold leaf in it.
In their Aloha line their six ounce jars feature Tellicherry peppercorns, horseradish,jalapenos/artichoke/lime and cilantro, lavender, garlic chives and cinnamon/cranberry/honey.
Their Paradise line are 5 ounce jars with examples being olive oil and herbs de Provence, wrapped in grape leaves, macadami nut crusted, smoked over mac nut shells packed in mac oil… the list goes on.
I never thought I’d enjoy going to a goat farm but this was a fun trip and a delicious snack. The only thing I didn’t try were the sweet goat truffles due to my diabetes but I can assure you there were groans of pleasure, oohing and aahing and squeals of joy coming from that counter.
