Alright, the ACS conference feels like years ago and I’m still not finished mentioning my favorite cheeses. I need to get a move-on, eh?
A cheese that surprised me with how much better it has gotten was the Meadow Creek Dairy Appalachian which took first place in the American Originals (original recipe made form cow milk) category:
I have always loved their Grayson, a raw milk Taleggio-style cheese, and I love that they are a pasture-based dairy from Virginia, but while I always thought the Appalaichian was good, this batch I tasted at the conference was fabulous. I always kind of lumped this in with the other American-made Alpine-style cheeses, but the Appalaichan proved itself to have some very unique flavors. Nutty, grassy, sweet, a little pungent. This is a big success!
Gordon ("Zola") Edgar 
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Yeah, this one was definitely a highlight for me. I remember tasting it last year in Austin and liking the (then) new shorter format, thinking the flavor developed nicer… whereas then, like you, I had lumped this into the american-alpine genre. This year it’s come even further and has become one of my favorite american originals. I could eat this all day long. (Actually, went back after recording my votes and had a piece for enjoyment’s sake, despite being full to the gills.)