haystack mountain goat dairy

Toured on 10/26/14 using a coupon purchased from living social.The tour of the dairy was interesting and informative. We were not allowed to enter the cheeseroom, which is fine as I understand the need for sanitation and safety requirements, but interesting to see that prior reviews show other groups were able to.However, there were far more people on the tour (~30) than could be handled properly. For the cheeseroom he talked a lot to describe everything, but there was very limited views through the windows into the room, and I think most people were unable to see what he was talking about. The tour around the creamery took about 1 hour.As the tour completed there, we were given an address to drive to for the rest of the 3 hour event. We were not local to the area and the verbal instructions were totally inadequate for us to have any idea where to go. Luckily with GPS I think everyone got there, but why not print out a page with a map to hand out to everyone?After that the tour moved to the home where there are some goats (not milk-producing), and some chickens, pigs and dogs. We were able to see and visit with the goats which was interesting and entertaining. There was a single small shade canopy setup in the yard with a folding table under it. There was hot plate and a few other things on the table. There were 2 or 3 chairs set out in the yard. With about 30 people on the tour everyone was left standing in the sun except for a few that managed to snag a place in shade or sitting. It was a near record high temperature day for the season with intense sun.They then did a demonstration making a simple farmer's cheese from a gallon of milk and hung it up to drain. There was a cooking demonstration making some grilled bread/egg/cheese baskets that were then cut into small bites and everyone was able to get a taste. There were then several cheeses placed on the table for tasting and in some cases tray was passed around.For the demonstrations and tastings for this size group in front of one small table it was again totally inadequate planning. There was a crowd in front of the table with many people unable to see or hear much. When food was placed out on the table there was a large crowd around it and it was very difficult to get at and there was no organized flow of people to get at it - all were just camped out blocking access.There was another folding table off to the side on the ground and someone suggested that they set it up and use it - they declined saying they wanted to keep it intimate. Nice idea but with that crowd it was already far from intimate. Eventually a second shade canopy was setup to provide more shade.At the end of the session a variety of their cheeses were available for purchase.Overall the food and cheese tasting was very good. It was nice to see the animals and to learn about goats and cheese.Given that the tour was scheduled from 10am - 1pm, and the cost of the tour (~$60 with the coupon?) I thought there might be a meal included, but there was no more food than a few bite size tastings. They were very good and I really didn't need more, but don't expect more than that.However the lack of organization and the size of the group made it a somewhat unpleasant experience overall. With more organization and limiting the size of the group this could have been a very nice experience, however it didn't work at this time.

Check out the website to set up your tour ahead of time. There were only five in our group and that seemed like a good number, I was worried that we would be too few but it worked out perfectly. Our tour guide John, who is also marketing director, was awesome. His passion and curiosity for goats and the cheese making processes shown through and really set a great mood for our tour. We checked out the small facility, located in an industrial section of Longmont, and learned about Haystack's history and how they made cheese. After donning hair nets and booties we got a tour of the "make-room" and got quite the olfactory experience with the raw milk cheeses. In my opinion it isn't good cheese unless it's stinky!! But if you don't share my thoughts don't let that discourage you, they have some amazing milder cheeses to sample as well. The group was highly impressed by the large selection, and quantity, of cheese we were given to sample. It was well worth the ten dollars per head they charged and this was given back to you as a credit if you chose to purchase some cheese to take home. Our tour was capped off by a fifteen min. ride to check out John's small home farm and his goats. This is by no means a run of the mill factory tour. If you have any interest in cheese making, dairy goats, or just like to eat amazing artisanal cheese it is well worth your time!