It’s not the first time I’ve heard that someone bought a pet goat and ended up with a cheese business. Goats are adorable; we know that. But if you take home a pregnant goat, which is what India Loevner did on impulse (actually, she bought two), there is goat milk in your future. And probably more goats. Today, a decade after Loevner introduced the prize-winning pair to her small Pennsylvania farm, the herd numbers about 140 and the family’s cheese is racking up awards. The beauty pictured above is the breakout star, for good reason. Shave it with a plane and you’ll think you’ve never tasted a creamier cheese.
Loevner and her husband, Steve, have owned their 130-acre rural property near Pittsburgh for decades. They raised their children there, with chickens and pigs, but it was never a working farm until India accompanied a friend to a dairy goat show and came home with the two top finishers. Goat Rodeo Farm & Dairy, the inevitable outcome, now makes about a half-dozen cheeses, from fresh chèvre to goat Gouda.
Bamboozle, the cheese pictured above, won its category at the 2022 American Cheese Society competition and went on to place third overall—out of perhaps 1,400 entries. What an impressive showing for this relative newcomer. A four-month-old wheel I tasted recently was pretty much flawless.
Bamboozle is a nine-pound mixed-milk cheese with a beer-washed rind. The cow’s milk comes from a neighbor and accounts for 75 percent of the blend. “A little goat’s milk goes a long way in adding some tanginess,” says Loevner.
The creamery cultures the milk with Brevibacterium linens, bacteria that help produce the caramel-colored rind and that funky, ripe-laundry scent that typically signals a robust cheese. I stored a vacuum-sealed piece of this cheese for two weeks in the run-up to a class, and every time I opened the fridge, it stunk up the kitchen. Nicely, of course.
Yet Bamboozle is not especially strong-flavored. Bring it fully to room temperature and shave it thinly to reveal its roasted-peanut aroma. Another writer likened it to Belgium’s Chimay, an apt comparison, although I think the American cheese is far tastier. The goat’s milk adds complexity and a faint caramel sweetness, the salting is spot on, and the texture is dreamy.
Goat Rodeo’s website includes a retailer map and list of retailers that carry its cheeses (although not specifically Bamboozle). A list of likely retail sources for Bamboozle is here. You can also order direct from the creamery; they offer $20 flat-rate shipping, which is quite reasonable, especially on a large order.
Next-gen goat farmer: Will Loevner
The Loevners’ son, Will, helps with the cheesemaking and goat-herding, and their daughter makes goat-milk caramels, so the enterprise has a promising future. Yet housing subdivisions are moving into this once-rural region, says India. Goat Rodeo is now the only dairy left in the county, and the Loevners have fought to preserve their agricultural zoning.
“You hear about Vermont and California and Wisconsin, but we are proud to be making cheese in Western PA,” says India. “Our mission is to preserve Pennsylvania farmland one wheel of cheese at a time.”