Twin Sisters Creamery

The Twin Sisters Creamery and cheese shop is big, bright, and airy, not exactly what you’d expect of a store of its kind, but certainly what you want. Lindsay and Jeff Slevin opened the Ferndale retail shop in August of 2015. Customers will find a variety of cheese, jams and chutney, crackers and assorted kitchen accessories. Within just two refrigerated cases lay about 80 varieties of cheese. Each is picked based on season, customer demand and suggestions, and Slevin personal favorites. “Our customers determine what we are not allowed to run out of,” Lindsay said.

Among those many types of cheese, customers will find the three varieties of Twin Sisters Creamery cheeses, which also happen to be
 made right on site. The manufacturing end of 
the operation opened in November of 2015 and began with the production of Twin Sisters flagship cheese, the Whatcom Blue, an approachable and friendly blue cheese, as Lindsay called it. The flavor is still true to blue, but doesn’t pack an overly musty punch that can turn some people off. Instead, it is creamy and mild, without being boring. It wasn’t until the summer of 2017 that the Slevins started producing other types of cheese. “We want to do just a few things well,” Lindsay said. Now the creamery produces two more cheeses in addition to the Blue: Whatcom White with Whole Peppercorns and the Whatcom Farmhouse White. Both are made with the same base and go well in soups and stacked high on grilled cheese sandwiches. As for the Blue, Lindsay recommends topping burgers, steaks, and pizzas with a plentiful helping.

Jeff and Lindsay Slevin’s two twin girls’ silhouettes anchor the logo of their Twin
 Sisters Creamery logo. Lexi and Maddy were
the inspiration for the couple to begin the process of opening their own creamery and cheese shop
in 2012. “We did it for our girls. We wanted to show them to be brave and go after their passion, if they are lucky enough to find one,” Lindsay said. The couple wanted to open a family business that their girls could learn from and be a part of. Sure enough, when the girls are lucky enough to visit the shop they toss on their hairnets and jump into the creamery to help mom and dad. The twins even ride with dad on early mornings to pick up the milk from Twin Brook Creamery just up the road in Lynden, she said. Jeff worked in the information technology and manufacturing world before becoming a cheese maker. Lindsay has been in the business for 18 years, both on the retail and distribution side.

The couple invites visitors into the shop
with open arms—and not just to swing by for
 a cheese to go with dinner, or to peep through 
the viewing window into the creamery, but to
 talk cheese. Cheese shops can be overwhelming due to the amount of choices; however, Twin Sisters does their best to help eliminate too
 many options and keep it simple for customers. While 80 cheeses sound like quite the pile, each 
is thoughtfully chosen and ready to be tasted by curious customers. For those looking for even more cheese education, the shop hosts tasting classes to inspire customers and teach about wine and food pairings. Stop into the shop from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m., Tuesday through Saturday to have a taste or just watch the curds and whey.

6202 Portal Way, Ferndale

360.656.5240 | twinsisterscreamery.com

 

" 'We did it for our girls. We wanted to show them to be brave and go after their passion, if they are lucky enough to find one,' Lindsay said. "