While opening Beecher’s Handmade Cheese in 2003, Kurt Dammeier searched for a cracker to sell that would complement the flavor of his newly crafted artisan cheese. In addition to being delicious, the cracker would have to meet Beecher’s strict requirements of selling only pure, all-natural food without artificial additives or preservatives. Many crackers on grocery store shelves include hydrogenated oils - part of a group of fats called trans fats. Used in most commercially produced baked goods, hydrogenated oils are added to enhance crispness and creaminess, despite their association with known health risks (read more about hydrogenated oils).

To Kurt’s surprise the search was harder than he anticipated - “The crackers that were bad for you tasted good and the crackers that were good for you tasted bad.” The solution was clear – Beecher’s would have to create a delicious, all-natural cracker.

Numerous attempts to craft the perfectly textured, pure, full-flavored cracker finally produced Beecher’s Original Crackers. Tender and buttery with an excellent crunch, they were hard to resist - and easy to sell!

The following November in 2004, Beecher’s launched Flagship; a uniquely robust and nutty one year aged cheese with a flavor profile between a Gruyère and a cheddar. At the same time, Kurt was experimenting with a new cracker flavor – this one with a slightly sweeter profile than the original. The hearty taste of hazelnuts and local Washington honey combined to create Beecher’s Honey Hazelnut crackers. When Flagship was tasted on a Honey Hazelnut cracker… Eureka! The perfect partnership emerged.

The media takes note:

"I've been having fun lately complementing strong-flavored cheeses with personality-rich Honey Hazelnut Crackers from Beecher's Handmade Cheese..." Bite of the Week, Seattle Post-Intelligencer 11.11.2005

“It’s taken a year, but the diabolical business plan behind Kurt Dammeier’s Beecher’s Handmade Cheese is finally emerging. Earlier this month, members of the media were sent 8-oz. samples of Dammeier & Co.’s latest product, Flagship, cheesemaker Brad Sinko’s unique cheese balanced in flavor between cheddar and Gruyere. The cheese, mildly pungent, firm but creamy, is priced … (competitively)… with quality products from the U.S. and abroad. No, the diabolical part is that Beecher’s employees innocently offer samples of Flagship on one of Beecher’s own brand crackers. The combination of the cracker’s buttery crispness with the cheese’s subtle but lusty flavor produces organoleptic synergies beyond description: Let it suffice to say, either cheese or cracker is seductive enough; if you don’t want to succumb to hopeless addiction from the first bite, eschew the combination…” Seattle Weekly 11.17.04