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The Big Cheese

Austin cheese shop celebrates 15 years with 500 freebies and events

Antonelli's Cheese deli case
Is there anything more celebratory than cheese? Antonelli's Cheese/antonellischeese.com

Antonelli's Cheese, an Austin cheese shop with a dedicated following, is turning 15 years old and celebrating with free cheese and some special events.

Free Cheese Week is an annual initiative for Antonelli's. For five days from February 3-7, both Antonelli's locations will be giving out a total of 100 cheese wedges to their first 100 guests starting at 11 am. No purchase is necessary to get a free cheese. Every day the shop will feature a different type of cheese, so diligent waiters-in-line can end up with five types of cheese by the end of the week.

There are also a handful of events in store for the 15th birthday celebrations, but two of them are already sold out; hopeful cheese-lovers can still sign up on a waitlist. Those are two tastings titled “15 Best Cheeses of 15 Years in Biz," led by Antonelli's founders Kendall and John Antonelli.

Remaining events are other signature tastings (most with 1-30 spots still open) from February 7-9, and a showing of The Bodyguard at Alamo Drafthouse (limited seats), as part of the returning Cheese-y Movie Night series.

Before readers are too disappointed with the sold-out events, they should check out the Antonelli's calendar, which starts having significantly more availability in mid-February. It's not just special events like the ones during the anniversary week that sell out fast; guests almost always have to plan ahead to attend tastings.

Finally, anyone can participate in this initiative without going anywhere. Antonelli's is soliciting customer stories that are related to the shop or the cheese for its "Cheese is Love" campaign, which it says is being released soon. It also teases a larger story project to follow, but doesn't give any more details. The shop references Humans of New York as an example of the types of stories the campaign will share.

"Holy smokes, y'all. Fifteen. We can't believe it!" says the 15th anniversary landing page. "Who'd have thought that 17 years ago, when we made a honeymoon decision to quit our jobs and "do something in cheese," we'd not only become Austin's first cut-to-order cheese shop but also build and bring together a community of cheese lovers who care about how their food is made, who makes it, and where it comes from?! And then that we'd get to do it for FIFTEEN YEARS!"

Antonelli's has two locations: a shop in Hyde Park (4220 Duval St.) and a tasting room at 1100 South Lamar Blvd. The shop is open daily from 11 am to 7 pm, and the tasting room is open Tuesdays through Saturdays from 11 am to 4 pm.

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