Friday, June 3, 2022
CapitalPress.com
TMK Creamery: ‘We
decided to go vertical’
By BRENNA WIEGAND
For the Capital Press
CANBY, Ore. — TMK
Creamery of Canby, Ore.,
began as a 4-H project of
Todd Koch at the tender age
of 12.
As it grew, family mem-
bers joined in and the dairy
shipped milk for 23 years
until the creamery they sup-
plied dissolved, threatening
to leave them high and dry.
“It got to where it was
liquidate or do our own
thing,” Todd’s wife, Tessa
Koch, said. “We decided to
go vertical.”
TMK started making
their own cheese and ice
cream in 2017. Early the
next year they built a retail
space that, besides creating
an outlet for their products,
enables them to host large
groups of kids and the pub-
lic to show them the inner
workings of a dairy.
On weekends, visitors
enjoy live music, food and
drink with plenty of space
to stick around and enjoy the
country atmosphere. Spe-
cial events include Friday
night “Milking with Marc”
events, which sell out every
time. During the events, 15
participants get a chance to
milk a “cowlebrity.”
Then there’s the vodka.
Getting the idea from
research at Oregon State
University,
the
Kochs
embarked on making vodka
from the whey left over from
the cheesemaking process.
They spent two years
designing and engineering
their own vodka, which met
with great success and led
them to build a still.
In the process they had
to develop a unique heat
exchange method to keep
the protein-rich liquid from
scorching during the brief
time involved in producing
each batch.
“When we’re done mak-
ing the cheese the whey goes
into fermenters for about a
week before going through
the still,” Koch said. “It’s
immediate; you’re getting
alcohol as soon as you start
putting it in.”
It’s a “sipping vodka,”
she said. Most of its appeal
is not in alcohol content but
in knowing a waste prod-
uct was upcycled in its mak-
ing. Having their own still
makes TMK the only 100%
farmstead creamery distill-
ery in the world. Their plans
include going nationwide
with the product.
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