Tuesday, July 7th, 9 PM Ten20 Craft Brewery, Louisville, Kentucky

The Daphne Zepos Teaching Endowment invites you to their annual party at ACS in Louisville, KY. Join us on Tuesday, July 7, from 9 pm to midnight.

 We are having this year's party at Ten20 Craft Brewery, a brief 20-minute walk from the downtown Louisville area or a 6-minute car ride. This year, we are refilling the Vat for our Back In The Vat grants.

 As in the past, we will gather, have a good time, and celebrate DZTE recipients past and present. There will be delicious goodies from the region for you to enjoy and a raffle featuring some amazing prizes from Formaticum, Essex Street Cheese, Shelburne Farms, and Culture Magazine.  A ticket gets you in the door to mix and mingle, and support the opportunities provided by Back In The Vat and DZTE.

Buy your tickets early, as prices increase at the door!

 We can't wait to see you in Kentucky!

Wednesday, July 8th, 2:45-4:00 PM

The American Cheese Society Conference, Louisville, Kentucky

Standardized salt dissolved in sterile water is about as straightforward as it gets—brine made this way is designed to deliver consistent results. And yet, whether in pursuit of complexity or in the name of tradition or both, washed-rind affineurs all over the world have made choices that may threaten such consistency: using local natural salt, adding cultures, mixing or replacing water with other liquids, and more. While establishing an appropriate brine concentration for one’s wash is key, this, too, can vary among affineurs developing similar cheeses. What prompts these deviations? And how impactful are they, really? Daphne Zepos Teaching Award recipient Lilith Spencer has surveyed and visited washed-rind cheesemakers domestically and abroad to learn how these choices are made, how approaches differ between traditional and modern producers, and how brine-making practices can impact washed-rind quality.

Friday, July 10th, 10:30-11:45 AM

The American Cheese Society Conference, Louisville, Kentucky

Olivia's research through the DZTE focuses on the ingenuity of American artisan cheese caves. Through 2025 and 2026, she started her journey in the northeast, visiting and documenting aging spaces of small creameries. In this initial presentation, she will share her findings during the first year discussing humidification methods, cave materials, and unique set-ups at the heart of U.S. affinage.