Queen Creek Olive Mill tasting and tour

I’m a foodie at heart and one of my passions is gourmet and high quality ingredients especially oils and vinegars. I have an entire cabinet in my kitchen dedicated to just oils and vinegars. And I’m passionate about supporting locally grown and produced food.

I recently visited Queen Creek Olive Mill and loved experience both learning about and tasting the locally produced oils.  But the experience is more than just tasting oils – its a agritourism destination with a local sourced cafe, coffee shop and marketplace.

Queen Creek Olive Mill was started in 1998 when Perry and Brenda Rea moved their family from Detroit to Arizona. They currently grow 16 varieties of olives in their groves.

Queen Creek Olive Mill is located in Queen Creek, AZ grows olives on their land and processes the oil on site. They also have an amazing shop filled with locally produced food. And if you’re hungry they have a cafe and coffee shop.

Our experience started with a tasting. We sampled 6 creations – Balanced extra virgin olive oil, Fresh Crush Basil Olive Oil, Chocolate extra virgin olive oil, Roasted Garlic extra virgin olive oil, Meyer Lemon extra virgin olive oil, and Strawberry Balsamic Glaze.

Perry, owner and olive oil sommelier, explained to us how olive oil has 3 attributes – fruitiness, bitterness and pungency. He explained the proper tasting technique and the differences in their olive oils based on type and time of harvest.

After sampling the oils and some delicious bruschetta from their cafe, we toured the pressing room to learn about the pressing process.

After the tour was complete, it was time to shop! All their oils and condiments were available for tasting. The shop also has an amazing selection of local wines. The bakery cases were filled with amazing looking olive oil cupcakes. There was a huge case filled with gelato. And the coffee shop was busy creating some wonderful drinks.

Limited edition Peach White Balsamic Glaze. This is one of their best sellers. I have some recipe ideas in mind for this one – stay tuned…

In the shop I found this – Bacon extra virgin olive oil. Was really tempted because it smelled and tasted good but wasn’t sure what to do with it – someone suggested using it for popcorn, yum!

What did I go home with? Peach Balsamic Glaze, Strawberry Balsamic Glaze, Chocolate Olive Oil, Balanced Olive Oil and Chipotle Balsamic Barbecue Sauce.

They offer 4 tours a day, 7 days a week. In addition they offer special classes and some great special events – check their website for details.

Queen Creek Olive Mill also have 3 marketplaces in the valley: