CHEESEMAKER SCORES TENNESSEE DRUG CAVE

When authorities auction off the confiscated property of formerly
successful drug traffickers, it's usually jewelry, mansions, classic
cars and swanky yachts.

But one of the best deals at Tennessee's 15th Judicial District Drug
Task Force auction last week was a bit unusual: a 500-foot-long cave
100 feet underground about 40 miles from Nashville, which until 2005
was used to house a multimillion-dollar operation featuring more than
1,000 hydroponically grown marijuana plants.

It turns out that what's good for growing pot is also good for curing
cheese, so a Wisconsin cheesemaker bought the cave for $285,000.

The auction's winner, Fermo Jaeckle, co-owner and CEO of Monroe-based
artisan cheese company Roth Kase USA, financed the buy with his own
money and that of a few longtime business partners.

"I kind of fell into this," chuckled Jaeckle. "It's one of those
things where you say, 'Oh, it'd be great, what the heck, let's see if
we can bid on this cave, it's got a great story,' and then when you
get it you say, 'Oh, that's great, I got it, now what am I going to do
with it?'"

But even without a business plan for the cave, he and his partners
consider it a steal.

"It's cheap space," Jaeckle said, noting that the size of the interior
- -- with two football-field-length rooms and ceilings as high as 20 feet
- -- combined with the cave's naturally constant temperature and humidity
and the absence of light make it an excellent choice for a large
cheese curing operation. "We consider it to be about half-price," he
said. A comparable above-ground structure could cost from $600,000 to
$800,000 according to Jaeckle.

The former cannabis cove also had offices, a kitchen, bedrooms and
bathrooms, according to a news release.

Jaeckle's plan is to use local Tennessee sheep and goat milk, but not
cow milk, to create specialty cheeses. Toward that end he has created
a new company, Trousdale Holdings, and predicts the first batch of
cave-aged cheese could see the light of day as soon as 2010.

Although he plans to use Tennessee goat and sheep milk to produce his
cave curds, the marketing and distribution of those products would be
handled by Roth Kase's nationwide distribution network.

"As our distribution grows, and that distribution and marketing is
handled by Roth Kase, that will create new jobs," Jaeckle said.