Beecher's Handmade Cheese "World's Best Mac and Cheese" Seattle, WA

Mother's day weekend is here! And what better way to spend the weekend than to fly up to Washington to visit the 'rents! What a great and fun trip, got to see the new house, all the attractions of Seattle, went to an A's Mariner's game (I'm a huge A's fan and got lucky enough to see them play as the away team), and also got a chance to go to Pike's Market where right next door is...
Beecher's Handmade Cheese Co.

I know it's a bad picture with the cars and sign, but u get the point

The big reason I wanted to go to Beecher's is because their recipe for World's Best Mac and Cheese is the base of almost every variation of Mac I make. It's a simple recipe such as in my post
Worlds Best Mac and Cheese (My Version)
This place was a destination over all the other attractions of the city. Space Needle? SafeCo Field? Puget Sound? Psh! They ain't the world's best! I am able to get their cheese here in California, but it's super expensive and hard to find. I have to go to fine food markets such as Nugget just to track it down, after which it's 12-15 bucks a pound. The mac itself prepared by them is only available in Seattle however. You can buy it frozen online, but I wanted a legitimate review, so here it is.

Review: It came together very well. I kept comparing it to my version of it, which is somewhat unfair. I used my parent's impression as a big factor as well as they have not tried my most recent iteration of the dish, and therefore have a clean palate.

Cheese: They use their own handmade "Flagship" cheese. When cooking with it, it tends to crumble often and is difficult to shred by hand. When I mix it into a roux and make a sauce from it, I often just break it into curd size chunks and throw it in. Crank shredders don't have that problem as much.

As far as once it's in the sauce, it melts very easily, is not waxy at all, and stays creamy up to when the dish is eaten. I have not worked with their "Just Jack" version but I imagine it would be about the same to handle when taking their cheese making style into consideration. Their cheddar is very very sharp. I love sharp cheddar, but this is really strong!
Pasta: They use a regular penne pasta, when I had it at their cafe, it was in a big serving dish where they scooped it. I sometimes get concerned over it as when it sits in one of those too long, the pasta softens too much. That's just fine in my book as they likely prepare barrels of the stuff considering its quality and they fly through trays.

Aftertaste: It left a flavorful taste in my mouth that lingered for a good long time. Was just great in my opinion.
7-Minute test: Even though I scarfed it down in one sitting, I can still make some conclusions as I use the same recipe. Their version will likely solidify as they use jack cheese which likes to thicken. Mine will oil up and stongly solidify when refrigerated, but reheat well. The interesting thing about their Flagship cheese is their cheddar starts creamy the first time you eat it. But if you reheat it the next day, it isnt creamy anymore and becomes more cheesy. It's very strange how it mixes into two different types of sauce but both are great.
Advice: Don't get their spicy version on your first try, get the original to get an impression of what their cheese is all about. I always encourage people to stick to the basics for first impressions.
Final Thoughts: I know I stated earlier that it's unfair to compare it to mine, but here it is anyway. My version is superior in flavor by far. Theirs is superior in sauce texture and preparation. I have modified their recipe to include imported English smoked white cheddar, Swiss Gruyere, and Vermont white cheddar, with organic chipotle powder mixed in.

 If they did that with their mac and made a Spicy Smokey version, I would concede my opinion on flavor. Until then, I'll take my own mac any day. Of course I'll take my Aunt Debbie's mac and cheese over my own any day.
Rating: 8.5