Houston Dairymaids

Been aware of the Houston Dairymaids for years now, but finally made it into their shop the other afternoon. They carry a lot of local options you won’t find elsewhere, and as with most cheese mongers let you try pretty much everything before you make a purchase.
I wish Houston’s cheese scene was a little more mature, it’s nice having such a shop, but I wish there were others in town. Cool to see what different mongers offer, as they obviously all have different tastes.
Can’t recommend this place enough though!

I absolutely LOVE cheese so this place is like my utopia. It doesn’t look like much from the outside, just a small white building with a big sign that says «cheese». When you step inside you are immediately greeted by a dairymaid that will ask you if you want a FREE cheese tasting. What? Wait it gets better! They’ll even pour you a glass of wine to go with it.
The tasting usually includes 5 – 6 cheese samples and the cheeses rotate often depending on what’s currently available. The cheeses range from mild to bold so there’s sure to be something for every palate. I’m a huge blue cheese fan so I always zoom in on that. Their Echo Mountain Blue and Colston Bassett Stilton are some of my favorites. I’ve recently become super addicted to their Harbison. It’s a creamy brie style cheese that’s wrapped in a spruce bark. So delicious!
The shop itself is very small and quaint. There’s no seating so it’s for to go purchases only. They offer nuts, cookies, crackers, honey, wine, and bread from Common Bond. I can’t make a stop at Dairymaids without taking home a container of Lucky Layla butter and Pure Luck Anaheim Red Chili Chevre.
Be sure to sign up for their email list. They have monthly cheese classes, a cheese of the month club, and also offer seasonal cheese gift bags. The gift bags are perfect for a party. They come in two different sizes and even include cards with descriptions of each cheese.

Free cheese tastings when you walk-​in… what could be better than that? They were really helpful in helping me pick out cheeses for a recipe I was trying out.

Have been coming here for years and will keep coming back as long and they’re around!
I love cheese. Good cheese — not the «singles» ya find at the convenience or grocery store.
6 days they offer FREE cheese tastings. Yes, free! They’ve been doing this for years and each week they feature a new board highlighting 5 – 6 cheeses.
If you have a specific type of cheese ya like but don’t see it on the weekly board, let them know! Blue cheese, cheddar, goat, melting cheeses, funky cheeses, and everything in between… Let them know and they’ve probably got something you’ll like.
Visiting their website or Facebook page to learn about the weekly cheese board and, more importantly, the cheese glasses they offer throughout the year.

I think that Houston Dairymaids is absolutely an amazing little enterprise! So much good to say about it that I almost don’t know where to begin…
I first started heading here right after it opened like four (?) years ago; back then it was mostly just the cheeses and some breads for purchase, but now it has exploded into cheeses, butter, wines, chocolates, artisan breads, and all of the fixings to go along with it!
The daily cheese tastings are pure heaven on a plate… and for FREE! Get out of town! Often they will give you a taste of some featured wine or nuts or whatever that pairs well with the cheeses on the tasting… smooth upsale, ladies!
I have attended two seperate classes here and really enjoyed both of them! I love cheese, so hearing more about where it comes from, why it tastes the way that it does, etc is really fun for me! I would highly recommend the classes, though the instructor that I had, Hayley, is no longer there (sad-​face).
The foodstuffs here are a bit on the pricey side, but it is to be expected for artisanal products in a boutique shop, right?! I mean, this isn’t Kraft singles that these ladies are slangin’ — everything that they sell is absolutely of the highest quality and well worth the price they will ask you to pay — even though it might give you wallet-​pains!
I love this shop and think you would too… in fact, I think I will head there right now!

This place is great. The cheeses taste wonderful and the employees/​dairymaids are so helpful. They are very knowledgeable and friendly. The prices are good and well worth the money.

INCREDIBLE variety of cheese, very friendly and informative staff, lots of free samples (even beyond cheese), what else do you want? This fills goes above and beyond to fill the gap of specialty cheese shop in Houston.
Came in for Saturday tasting with group of 5. FYI — shop is pretty small and there is nowhere to sit, the tastings are standing at a small bar in case you are wondering. On Saturdays and Wednesdays, they pair your cheese tasting with complimentary wine or beer! Remember, it is a tasting, not a meal, so portions are small but you get to taste at least 6 you’ve never heard of and that you’ll never find (even at whole foods, central market, etc). And it is so generous of them to do this for everyone who walks in the door.
I think they always stock the Pure Luck goat cheese (4 different flavors) in the fridge, so I recommend grabbing a package of that if you’re looking for something unique and reasonably priced!
I’ll be back!

This is a charming cheese shop and well worth a visit if you’re in the Heights. I enjoyed one of their free tastings (which includes a sip of wine!) on Saturday afternoon and got to try seven different cheeses. The cremont, the cracked black pepper chèvre, and the raclette were special favorites.
If you’re going, plan your visit for just before you head home – we went on our way to get drinks and realized we couldn’t buy cheese just to leave it in a hot car.

Super friendly ladies. We wanted to buy way more but they didnt have a list of what they had in stock. So aside from the free tasting of about 6 or so cheeses we weren’t sure what to ask for.
5 starts if you could give a better idea of stock! Also, pretty pricey as well. $ 22.00 a pound seems high. But what do i know…

This is a very quaint shop. Upon walking in, you can immediately tell that they are a small business and sell cheeses from small-​time farmers. They provide quick, free cheese tastings of about 6 different cheeses that range from creamy and light to sharp and blue. The selection of cheeses changes out every Tuesday for the cheese tasting. I think the majority of their cheeses are kept in the back for temperature control, so you would have to ask the staff for what you want/​for suggestions (They are super friendly and really know their cheese!). At the store, you can also find all sorts of goodies: wine, crackers, cheese curds, chocolate, spreads, butter etc. and a lot of free samples (Yes!). I will definitely be coming back here next time, and will probably be walking out with another purchase. It’s pretty much impossible not too because the staff is nice, the food quality is great, and the price is incredibly reasonable!

I’ve eaten many a cheese plate in Houston restaurants where the cheeses came from Houston Dairymaids but had never made the trip to the shop. Until last week! My mom was in town so we ate at Just Dinner and of course ordered the Dairymaids cheese plate. One of the cheeses knocked our socks off so the next day I decided it was high time we finally checked these cheesemongers out. And I’m so glad we did!
The SECOND we walked in we were greeted and asked if we would like a cheese tasting. Duh. Who says no to that? One of the truly lovely women working there washed up and met us at the cheese board. She offered tastings of seven different cheeses and was incredibly informative about each. She explained the type of cheese, how it was made, where it was made, etc. And it wasn’t just rote memorization – she knew her shit. After our delicious tasting (I wanted to buy all seven!) I told her about the cheese from Just Dinner except I couldn’t remember the name. I told her it was from Spain and creamy. No problem she said. She looked up JD’s order history and figured out the cheese. She let us taste it to be sure, though! We shopped the knickknacks and other foodstuffs and got some of the Spanish cheese (patacabra).
The service was excellent but not pushy. The tasting was wonderful. The cheeses were divine. What are you waiting for?

Came here for a class (Cheese 101) and it was very informative and all of the dairymaids were so nice. The class was fun, learning and tasting different kinds of cheeses that i would never taste (and a couple i will not eat in the future).
The store is small, but has a lot of choices. They have many products that are from local Texas farms, but others from elsewhere.
I cannot wait to remember to go and pick up some cheese and other things.

This place is incredible! Service is great and will make u a cheese lover just don’t drop the little spoon for the butter the girl at the counter gave me a dirty look last a week

After easily finding a parking spot in their private lot, we walked into the small cheese shop and were immediately greeted by a knowledgeable cheese man! We tried 6 different types of cheeses (some soft, some hard, some blue, some cheddar…) and were then left to sample everything else in the store on our own. I loved that you could sample pretty much everything before buying it. We ended up getting some slices of their featured cheddar and blue cheese, along with some sesame crackers, pimento spread and smoked prosciutto. It was all so wonderful! They knew we weren’t going to be eating the cheese immediately so they gave us a little ice pack for the cheese. While this place was a little pricey, it was a great way to indulge and try new types of cheese!

I love cheese. I usually go to a cheese shop in Austin whenever I’m in town but then I found out there was one in Houston so I wouldn’t need to wait for one of my Austin trips! I finally found the time to visit.
The place is small and it has a small parking lot with it. It was easy to find though! When we walked in, there was already a couple being helped. We stood there for a bit looking around but the lady taking inventory found us help and gave us an introduction when I explained it was our first time. They have 150 varieties of cheese at all times but they choose 6 of those each week for a free tasting to get things started. We are vegetarian so it cut down the 6 cheeses to 4 that were animal rennet-​free. The guy in charge of our tasting «tour» went through each of the four cheeses and we went in, armed with mini tasting spoons. He would give us a little information about where it was from as well as a flavor profile. Once finished, he then asked if we would like to purchase any on the board that we had tasted and we decided upon 2.
All in all, a good experience. It was a little saddening that we were only given 4 to try (though the other 2 that were not vegetarian were still placed on the board while we were trying the others) and we weren’t offered two more to make up for it. I am excited that they have a large selection to choose from, though we don’t actually know what. Afterwards, we were told we could try the cheeses in the back as long as we let them know what we’re looking for or what we like and that the owner would know the beat on what cheeses were vegetarian. However, we were already purchasing $ 20 worth of cheese so we decided to leave that for next time.
Pros: awesome selection (in theory, since there is no list since it changes), helpful staff
Cons: you don’t actually know what else is available (the Austin place would «assign» a personal guide to every customer who ask us what we wanted/​liked/​were looking for and let us try everything that fit it… we would usually take at least 30 minutes per visit before we were finished), only got to taste 4 cheeses and weren’t asked if we wanted to try two more to make up for it
Verdict: I will most probably go back again once I finish my stash of cheese in my fridge. Not bad, but I would like to have a bigger idea of my choices; I love cheese, but I’m by no means an expert and would like to know what else is new out in the cheese world. Perhaps I’ll call ahead of time next time so we might have more vegetarian cheeses to sample and be enlightened to.

I loveee this cheese shop! I always bring my out of town guests here and we have so much fun. The ladies working the tasting counter always make the experience so much fun and are very informative.
If you havent been before, they have 6 new cheese every week you can go in and taste for free. They always have a good variety from light and mild to strong blu cheese. They are always very nice and informative, and never pressure you to buy anything.
It is in kind of a sketchy area, so dont let that scare you off. It also can smell kind of weird but hey, it is cheese. And there is also a large parking lot to the right of the building.
Have fun!

If you loooooove cheese come here :)
I grew up in the Midwest and frequently visited Wisconsin where they are the Cheese meca so coming to this place was a real treat in Texas. They do offer you a free sampling of the cheeses that they are featuring that day and they are all very knowledgeable about their cheeses! Also, make a cheese profile so they can log what cheeses you bought in the past so you can buy them again if you like them!

I always joke that cheese and wine are my kryptonite; draining me of my strength whilst giving me superhuman powers. Let’s just say that Houston Dairymaids is where said «kryptonite» is masterfully concocted.
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As a compliment to the amazing cheeses HDM’s carries fresh breads like: Slow Dough Bakery, honey, olives, American-​made salami and other cheese accompaniments. Providing a great selection of cheese-​friendly wines and beer, some of which can’t be purchased elsewhere.
**Wino Wednesdays, they pair a wine or beer with the cheese tasting and offer 10% off all purchases of alcohol.
When you walk in you can’t help but notice the beautiful display of their weekly cheese selections and the welcoming «maids» ready to help you sample them all. The «maids» are great and they are there to tell you about the store, what they have and who they are!
They have cheese for all palates. I prefer a Gouda and fell in LOVE with their dutch truffle Gouda. the bomb!

The widest, deepest and best curated cheese selection in our fair metropolis. Houston Dairymaids is nestled in a nondescript building that houses 150+ cheeses, both local and from far flung corners of the globe.
The staff is attentive, amiable and very, very knowledgeable. Every week they offer a varied sampler plate that conveys the authentic essence of their superabundance of cheesy goodness. They also offer sample pairings of wine & beer.
I adore every aspect of this burgeoning institution. The Dairymaids are cheerful without being phony and eager to please without being officious. The pairings they suggest are always well honed choices that blend the best of flavors.
Cheese proves the value of trusting instincts and traditions. A true Houston gem I recommend without reservation to any and all who love cheese in its kaleidoscope of flavors and funkiness.

We decided to swing by Dairymaids after a Sunday trip to the Canino’s market, which is just a bit north.
The store is small/​quaint. We were greeted by one of the ladies behind the counter who offered us a tasting of the different products. She first inquired if we had any favorites and used that as a guideline. We mentioned liking Irish cheddar which they didn’t have but, she brought out a Texas cheddar that was pretty close in flavor. She also brought out a couple of goat cheeses, one of which had an ash rind. Overall, they had pretty interesting and complex flavors but we ended up just buying the cheddar and also a blue cheese. You can buy in small amounts (we chose a ¼ lb of each) .
We definitely will be back for some great service and excellent cheeses.