One hundred twenty cheeses is not a selection. It is a dairy census.
That becomes your problem in the most delicious possible way.
The cases hold local favorites alongside cheeses from farther away, so curiosity can do a lot of damage before lunch even enters the picture.
Personally, I would accept defeat early.
Taste something familiar, try something that sounds slightly suspicious, and let the cheese counter make the introductions.
By the time Ohio finally enters the conversation, you are already several decisions deep.
Then the place keeps going. There are smoked meats, sweets, and enough extras to make a quick roadside stop feel wildly optimistic.
At some point, ice cream enters the conversation too, which feels less like dessert and more like the final plot twist.
Honestly, if you leave with only cheese, I am impressed.
That kind of focus deserves its own trophy.
Four Generations Sit Behind This Ohio Cheese Stop
The story reaches back farther than the Ashland building. In the early 1900s, Grandpa Yarman sold a portable radio to buy his first wheel of Ohio Swiss and opened a cheese house in West Salem.
The next generation kept searching out Ohio cheesemakers, adding Colby, Swiss, baby Swiss, and other regional cheeses to the family business.
Grandpa’s Cheesebarn itself opened in Ashland in 1978, when Grandma and Grandpa Baum joined their daughter Ronda and her husband, Dick Poorbaugh, in the new operation.
The family later expanded to Norton and Fairlawn, while Ashland remained the original Cheesebarn.
Today, the business is in its fourth generation. That history is useful because it explains why the shelves are not limited to a handful of novelty cheeses.
Cheese has been the center of the family operation for decades, with local sourcing, smoked meats, pantry goods, sweets, and gifts growing around it.
For a first visit, there is no need to treat the history like homework. Let it guide one choice instead. Start with an Ohio cheese, then wander.
The family story began with a wheel of Swiss, but the current case gives you considerably more than one direction to follow.
One Hundred Twenty Cheeses Make A Short Shopping List Difficult
The collection includes 120 cheeses. Local varieties produced by small Amish farms and Holmes County cheesemakers share space with imported cheeses.
So, the case moves from familiar Ohio staples to styles that can take the snack board in a completely different direction.
This is where a little strategy helps. Start with something you already understand. Cheddar, Swiss, Colby, Muenster, or provolone can anchor the bag.
Then add one cheese you would not normally see in the refrigerator at home. That keeps the shopping trip interesting without turning dinner into a blind tasting exam.
Texture can make the next choice easier. Want something firm enough to slice cleanly? Head toward cheddar or Swiss.
Looking for something softer? Move toward the creamier side of the case. Building a board for several people?
Mix mild and stronger flavors rather than buying four cheeses that all compete for attention.
The original Ashland location is at 668 US-HWY 250 East, Ashland, OH 44805. It also houses the café and homemade ice cream, which gives you an easy excuse to stop choosing cheese for a while and eat something before making another lap.
Ohio-Made Cheese Gives The Case Its Local Side
The regional section is not a token shelf. Grandpa’s Cheesebarn carries local varieties produced by small Amish farms and Holmes County cheesemakers, giving the larger cheese collection a strong Ohio component.
Ohio Cheddar is an easy starting point. It is locally made, aged for six months, and has a slightly sharp profile with an aged, crumbly texture.
If the phrase “local cheese” sounds a little abstract, this is the kind of product that makes it concrete: familiar enough to know how to use, but specific enough to bring a clear Ohio connection to the table.
Other Ohio choices include Ohio Colby, Ohio Farmers Cheese, Ohio Marble, and Ohio Swiss. Flavored cheddars and other combinations widen the selection even further, so staying close to the Ohio side of the case does not require staying predictable.
Ask yourself what happens when the cheese gets home. Sandwiches call for something easy to slice. A snack board can handle a sharper or more distinctive piece.
Melting plans point toward a different texture altogether.
And if the choice starts getting too serious, remember that cheese is supposed to be eaten, not defended in a thesis. One dependable Ohio block and one curiosity from the case will usually get the job done.
Imported Cheeses Give The Basket A Longer Passport
The local shelves are only half the story. The Cheesebarn also carries imported cheeses from countries including Scotland, Ireland, Finland, Holland, and elsewhere, expanding the case well beyond Ohio.
That creates an easy comparison game without requiring expert vocabulary. Pick one Ohio cheese and one imported cheese with a noticeably different texture or style. Taste them side by side later and decide which one disappears first.
No scorecard required.
Current imported offerings span styles such as Gouda, Gruyère, Danish blue cheese, feta, Asiago, Wensleydale, Brie, Pecorino, Parmigiano Reggiano, and long-aged cheddar. Availability can change, so the exact mix in front of you may not match a previous visit.
This is also the section where buying by recipe makes sense. A pasta dinner may send you toward Asiago or Parmigiano Reggiano. A snack board can make room for Brie or Gouda.
A stronger blue cheese works differently from a mild cheddar, so there is little reason to buy both for the same job unless that contrast is exactly what you want.
If the basket already contains several local cheeses, one imported option is enough to widen the whole lineup. Save the rest for the next excuse to drive through Ashland.
Smoked Meats And Ohio Pantry Goods Fill In The Gaps
Cheese does not have to carry the entire shopping bag. The store also sells smoked and locally produced meats, including jerky, bacon, meat sticks, summer sausage, trail bologna, pepperoni sticks, and other savory options.
That makes planning a snack spread much easier. Choose the cheese first, then add one meat rather than collecting every possible pairing. A sharper cheddar can stand beside summer sausage.
A milder cheese leaves more room for a strongly seasoned meat. Crackers and a jarred condiment can finish the job without turning the kitchen counter into a catering project.
The pantry shelves push the Ohio theme further with local honey and maple syrup, Amish-country jams, jellies and pickles, plus dips, spreads, baking mixes, snacks, sauces, and condiments.
Some products are made in the Cheesebarn kitchen, while others come from local farmers and producers.
This is where the original shopping list usually begins to lose authority.
A jar of jam may make more sense than another cheese. Maple syrup can solve several breakfasts at once. Pickles can rescue a sandwich later in the week.
The practical move is to choose items you already know how you will use, then allow one wild card.
That approach keeps the stop fun without requiring a second pantry when you get home.
Lunch Homemade, Ice Cream And Sweetes Change The Pace
At the Ashland location, the visit does not have to end when the cheese shopping does. The original store includes a café and homemade ice cream, giving you a place to shift from browsing to eating before heading back to the road.
That is useful when everyone in the car has reached a different level of hunger. One person may still be comparing cheeses. Someone else may be finished shopping entirely.
Lunch gives the group a reset, while homemade ice cream creates an easy final stop before leaving.
Sweets add another layer. Sweeties chocolates and fudge are part of the family business, with homemade chocolates and fudge produced regularly in the store. The lineup includes chocolate bars, fudge, chocolate-covered treats, candies, and giftable sweets.
The sensible sequence is cheese first, lunch second, sweets last. Reversing that order can make a perfectly good shopping plan much less disciplined.
If dessert is already decided, keep lunch simple. If the café becomes the main meal, save the ice cream for afterward instead of pretending it will somehow count as a beverage. There is no need to try everything in one visit.
The Ashland setup gives you enough separate food stops that leaving something for next time is almost unavoidable.
Current Hours Make The Stop Easy To Work Into A Drive
The Ashland store is open from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday through Saturday and 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Sunday.
That gives a road trip plenty of flexibility, whether the Cheesebarn is the main goal or a food stop between other plans.
Morning has one advantage: the cooler in the car is still empty. Midday makes the café easier to work into lunch. Later in the afternoon, the question becomes how long the cheese will be traveling before it reaches a refrigerator.
If the drive home is lengthy, an insulated bag or cooler is a sensible addition to the car. Buy the chilled items last when possible, then let the pantry goods, sweets, and other shelf-stable purchases do the waiting.
The bigger challenge may be deciding when to stop shopping. With 120 cheeses, local pantry products, smoked meats, homemade ice cream, chocolates, and fudge in the mix, there is always another shelf that catches your attention.
Use the simplest exit strategy: choose the cheese you came for, one thing you discovered after arriving, and whatever makes the ride home more pleasant. Anything beyond that can wait for another pass through Ashland.