Small farm, big flavor: Award-winning goat cheese gains recognition

Lori Kaye Lodes

Contributor

April 6, 2026

MALONE – From recent accolades to a brand new flavor coming soon to the cheese case, President Alex Coenen said LaClare Creamery is heading into spring with some great momentum.

Coenen said the 48-year-old, Malone-based creamery – which The Business News first featured in its Aug. 23, 2023 issue – continues to earn awards for its 100%-domestically produced goat cheese, most recently earning two third-place finishes at the 36th biennial World Championship Cheese Contest.

LaClare’s Original Goat Cheese, he said, scored a 98.7 on a 100-point scale, while Fig & Honey Goat Cheese received a 99.3. 

Coenen said the creamery’s near-perfect scores in a competition evaluating flavor, texture, finish and presentation underscore a message he frequently shares.

“When we talk about LaClare, we talk about the quality of our product, the freshness of our goat cheese that comes from high-quality milk,” he said. “In the cheesemaking process, you can’t make bad milk taste good. You need to have the best ingredients to have great cheese.” 

Coenen said LaClare’s partnership with “the best farms” is where that starts.

“And [that extends] to our fantastic team,” he said. “We pride ourselves on quality and great customer service.”

Coenen said that emphasis on quality, paired with consistency, has translated into repeat recognition across competitions and platforms.

In January, he said LaClare’s Original Goat Cheese was named to culture: the word on cheese’s Best Cheeses of 2026 list, adding to an already-full wall of accolades inside the creamery’s retail space.

Coenen said for him, these latest acknowledgements reinforce what the LaClare team knows, lives and breathes every day: quality goat cheese.

“[The awards] certainly lend credibility, especially to have the honors be repeatable,” he said.

Takes dedication 

Coenen said cheesemaking is a demanding and often relentless process, a fact reinforced for the team by severe mid-March winter weather.

“[Cheesemaking] starts early and goes late, and the milk never stops flowing,” he said. “It’s 24/7, 365. We can’t tell [the goats] we aren’t milking them for the week. There is so much passion, dedication and unseen hard work to make sure we have a quality product, and to have that recognized by a third party is a testament to the team.”

Coenen said for him, no product better represents that philosophy than its original cheese.

“The Original Goat Cheese is my personal favorite, because it’s where the freshness and quality of our cheese shines through the most,” he said. “That is the way to tell high quality – without any other flavors and nothing to hide behind. Anytime we can win an award with the original makes me very proud.”

Coenen said the original chèvre also serves as the team’s starting point for innovation.

“The Original Goat Cheese, for us, is a canvas and we can play on that original, such as our Lemon Bar Goat Cheese,” he said. 

Coenen said the creamery’s partnerships with influencers and its own social media posts help inspire new ways to use the original cheese.

“We want to inspire people to be creative with it being such a great canvas and to spur creativity in new ways to use our product,” he said.

Innovation driven by trends, taste

Coenen said the balance between tradition and experimentation is evident in LaClare’s recent and upcoming product launches.

In 2025, he said the creamery introduced Lemon Bar Goat Cheese as a permanent addition to its lineup, timed for summer and quickly validated by consumers and judges, earning second place at the Wisconsin State Fair Dairy Products Contest.

Coenen said the cheese pairs well with salads and summer foods, offering a taste reminiscent of a lemon bar.

Seasonal offerings, he said, continue to rotate in as well. 

This past fall, Coenen said LaClare added Cranberry Orange and Cinnamon Spice chèvre to its autumn lineup, joining the returning Pumpkin Goat Cheese.

The Cranberry Orange flavor, he said, was so well received that it is being added to the creamery’s year-round lineup.

But Coenen said the most anticipated development is still ahead: Ube goat cheese.

Consumers, he said, may have already heard buzz about the flavor, which is appearing in a range of products from coffees to pastries.

“[Our cheese hasn’t launched quite yet, but there is great retail interest, and it’s a hot and trendy flavor right now,” he said. “It’s unique – nothing tastes quite like Ube, and we’re excited about it,” he said.

Coenen said Ube – a purple yam known for its mild sweetness and notes of vanilla, coconut and nuttiness – reflects both consumer trends and LaClare’s ongoing flavor exploration.

LaClare’s new product, he said, is expected to launch in the coming months as the team finalizes the recipe, label design and other logistics.

Every new LaClare product, Coenen said, is a blend of internal creativity and external feedback.

“Recipes can come from a lot of different places, and we have a great quality assurance team that works with flavor development,” he said. “We hear ideas from customers – either retailers or individuals. [We] look at food trends, but sometimes, we just have an idea.”

Coenen said LaClare’s vetting process often includes testing close to 14 flavors or concepts at major trade shows.

“We give people at the show an opportunity to try them and rank them so we can see what’s popular,” he said. 

But just because something resonates at a show, Coenen said that doesn’t automatically send it to development and the local retailer’s cheese case. 

“There are a ton of great flavors that will never see the light of day,” he said. “We have to find what resonates with the most people and has some wind behind it.”

Even with new flavors always being explored and some added to the mix, Coenen said the original continues to dominate sales.

He said he credits its versatility as it can be used for Italian dishes, French cuisine, pizzas, salads and more.

“It leaves all the avenues open, which is why it’s the most popular,” he said.

Spring brings visitors, goats

As the product lineup evolves, so too, Coenen said, does the customer experience – especially as LaClare heads into its busiest season.

With spring approaching, he said the creamery is preparing to re-open its garden center – typically in May if the weather cooperates – drawing visitors to the property not just for cheese but for a broader experience.

Some of those offerings, Coenen said, include goat feeding, goat yoga and a variety of other one-off events, such as cheese board creating and old-fashioned making.

“We have a lot of people proud of the work we do, and we want to show it off,” he said.

Coenen said the best way to keep up with the evolving schedule is through the creamery’s Facebook presence, where new events are regularly posted.

Supporting growth behind the scenes

To support growth, Coenen said LaClare has continued to invest in its operations, including a 2025 cooler expansion aimed at improving logistics and creating space for new product lines – an essential but largely unseen component of expansion.

Today, Coenen said the creamery employs a team of 74 production staff, all contributing to a business that operates around the clock.

He said he credits them for ensuring the product consistency that customers count on.

“In every competition we enter, we go against great products, and the awards are a holistic, consistent recognition that we are consistently performing at a high level,” he said. “I look at that as more important than any individual award – it’s the sum of the total and being consistent and having recognition over time that makes me most proud.”