“Brothers from Another Udder”

 Pas de Chèvre – Moon Hill Dairy, Steamboat Springs, CO

Pasteurized, cow’s milk

About: A wonderful “chèvre” style cheese made without the chèvre, made from the milk of cow’s living in beautiful Steamboat Springs, CO.

Le Somport – Fromage Fermier de Montagne, Vallee D’Aspe, France

Raw, Cow’s milk

About: A cow’s milk version of the Basque sheep’s milk classic, Ossau-Iraty.  A rustic beauty that is delightfully mild and creamy.  Le Somport offers nutty flavors with hints of fruit on its lush finish.

Avalanche 1 year Cheddar – Avalanche Cheese Company, Basalt, CO

Raw, goat’s milk

About: A hand bandaged goat’s milk cheddar, aged for twelve months.  This cheddar is made in the style of the traditional British cow’s milk cheddars but using the milk of goats, instead.

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For those of you with the added Charcuterie of the Month:

Sujuk’ – We selected a new favorite from Spotted Trotter in Georgia.  The Sujuk’ is a beef and lamb salami that is a beautifully delicious accompaniment to any cheese plate.

“Wisconsin Delights”

 Montan – Carr Valley Cheese Company, La Valle, WI

Pasteurized, Sheep’s milk

About: An artisanal sheep’s milk cheese made in the European Alpine Style.  Nutty, earthy, complex and delicious.

Pairings: Montan and a Malbec would be a match made in heaven!

Pleasant Ridge Reserve – Uplands Cheese Company, Dodgeville, WI

Raw, Cow’s milk

About: “Named after the land formation on which the farm sits, Pleasant Ridge Reserve is made in the tradition of Alpine cheeses like Gruyere and Beaufort.  Like the Alpage versions of these cheeses, Pleasant Ridge Reserve is only made from May through October when the cows are eating fresh pasture.  This grass-fed, raw milk produces flavors in the cheese that can’t be replicated by “ordinary” milk.

Pleasant Ridge Reserve is the most-awarded cheese in American history, having won Best of Show in the American Cheese Society’s annual competition three times (2001, 2005 and 2010), and having also won the US Cheese Championships in 2003. It is the only cheese to have won Best of Show three times, and the only cheese to have ever won both of the major national cheese competitions.

Pairings: Pleasant Ridge Reserve would be delightful with a big chewy Red wine.

The Stag – Deer Creek, Sheboygan, WI

Pasteurized, Cow’s milk

About: “A bold and nutty Specialty Cheddar.  Select vats of Deer Creek’s The Fawn are chosen for further aging to allow for the development of the intense, bold flavor characteristics of The Stag.  It is rugged, driving strong toffee and butterscotch notes, yet possesses the sweet finish of The Fawn.  As it ages, The Stag develops a hint of crystalline crunch to further enliven the taste buds with rich texture as well as flavor.  Chosen as one of the “101” Best Cheese of the Year” by Culture Magazine” www.deercreekcheese.com.

Pairings: Beers: Stout, Hard Cider, Amber; Wines: Pinot Noir, Red Zinfandel, Nomadic Reds.

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For those of you with the added Charcuterie of the Month:

Jowl Bacon – From Burgers’ Smokehouse in Missouri.  This was recommended to us by a customer, and as soon as we tasted it, we knew we had to carry it.  Great for seasoning dishes or fried and served like bacon.  We hope you enjoy it as much as we have!  You get your choice of the Original Country Jowl or the Peppered Country Jowl.

“Raw Milk Appreciation”

In honor of Raw Milk Appreciation day on April 22^nd!

Raclette de Savoie – Joseph Paccard, Rhone-Alps Region, France

Raw, Cow’s milk

About: “Raclette was invented in the Middle Ages by shepherds who consume it mainly in summer, in the open air, once they took the cows to graze.  At the time, it was called “cheese roast,” which consists of melting a half wheel of cheese in front of a wood fire.  It was only over time that the name Raclette appeared, referring to the action of scraping the melted surface of the cheese and depositing it on potatoes.

From the middle of the 20^th century, the Raclette with wood fire gradually gave way to the first electric appliances, first family style appliances then to individual pans.” www. reblochon-paccard.fr/fromages/la-raclette-de-savoie.html

Pairings: Raclette would be delicious melted and served with potatoes, charcuterie, pickles, onions and tomatoes.

Gorwydd Caerphilly – Maugan and Todd Trethowan, North Somerset, England

Raw, Cow’s milk

About: “Caerphilly cheese, as it has come to be understood today, is a mold-ripened, aged cow’s milk cheese typically sold at three to four months. The style takes its name from a small town in the South of Wales, in the west of the British Isles. Early Welsh producers made this cheese on a very small scale and it became popular with miners at the beginning of the Industrial Revolution as a cheap but rich food. As the demand for it grew, Cheddar-makers in the lush pasturelands of Somerset were happy to use the surplus milk to produce a fast-maturing cheese, to generate a quicker financial return on their milk. Thus, by the end of the nineteenth century, most of the Caerphilly eaten in South Wales came from Somerset.

Todd Trethowan, a former Neal’s Yard Dairy cheese-monger, learned to make Caerphilly from Chris Duckett, a descendant of these original Somerset Caerphilly makers, but by the 1980s the last survivor of this famous tradition. When Todd went back to Wales, he built a cheese-making facility on his parents’ farm near the town of Llandewi Brefi and began to make cheese. He was later joined by his brother Maugan and sister-in-law Kim, another former Neal’s Yard Dairy cheese-monger. With the intention of improving the quality of their cheese, and after a lengthy search for ‘the best possible milk’, in mid-2014 the Trethowans moved to Somerset. Partnering with a farm whose milk supply showed great potential enabled them to have more control over the raw material and consequently, on the final cheese.” www.nealsyarddairy.co.uk/product/our-cheeses/gorwydd-caerphilly/

Pairings: Caerphilly pairs wonderfully with Viognier and Chardonnay.

Fiscalini Bandaged Cheddar – Mariano Gonzalez, Modesto, CA

Raw, Cow’s milk

About: “Fiscalini’s Extra Mature Bandage Wrapped Cheddar is their most popular and highly awarded cheese, the reason for Mariano Gonzalez’s fame within the industry.  The cheese is made in traditional 60lb wheels, bound in cheesecloth to protect the cheese during aging, and hand-turned daily for the first two months.Bottom of Form

Fiscalini Bandaged Wrapped Cheddar has been distinguished as the World’s Best Cheddar at the World Cheese Awards in London 3 times, and remains the only American Cheddar to win the award.

Aged 14 months, this cheese is firm, crumbly, straw-colored and has a nutty, slightly smoky, earthy and more round finish than most aged cheddars.” www.fiscalinicheese.

Pairings: Fiscalini Cheddar would pair nicely with a Stout, IPA or Porter on the beer side or a Zinfandel, Riesling or Port on the wine side.  We’ve also found it quite enjoyable with the Raspberry cider from Stem Ciders, made right here in Denver.

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For those of you with the added Charcuterie of the Month:

Landjäger – A dried Swiss beef stick. A delicious and great snack while enjoying the outdoors or sliced thin on a charcuterie board.  Landjäger can also be boiled and served with potatoes and fresh greens for more of a meal option.

“Luck of the Irish”

Creeny – Corleggy Cheeses, Belturbet Co. Cavan, Ireland

Raw, Sheep’s milk

About:  Creeny is mild when it is young, but gets super sharp as it ages.  It is a rare cheese due to production being limited to 4 months of the year.  Sheep’s milk is the richest milk with high butter fat and protein content, which makes for a rich luxurious cheese.  Made from the milk of sheep who graze the grass of the region that has soil rich in salt and minerals thus producing this deliciously salty and rich cheese.

Pairings: Creeny would be great served on a hearty wheat bread or on multigrain crackers, and can hold up to a big red wine like The Prisoner.

Gortnamona – Maher Farm, Tipperary Region, Ireland

Pasteurized, Goat’s milk

About:  A mild and creamy camembert-style goat’s milk cheese.  It has a silver-white, soft paste that is chalky with creaminess developing towards the rind.  Gortnamona offers a delicate aroma of white mushrooms from the rind.  The Maher Farm’s pastures are rich and are surrounded by damp boggy land, which makes the perfect environment to produce top quality milk needed to make this wonderful cheese.

Pairings: Gortnamona would pair delightfully with a Sauvignon Blanc or an unoaked Chardonnay.

Humming Bark – Carrigbyrne Farmhouse, Adamstown, Co. Wexford, Ireland

Pasteurized, Cow’s milk

About: “Humming Bark has recently been developed by Paddy and Charlie of Carrigbyrne Farm, a semi-soft cheese with a strong nose and full-flavored taste.  Aged in spruce bark and produced with only the finest milk, this cheese has already been awarded Reserve Champion at both Irish Cheese Awards the British Cheese Awards in 2014, along with Great Taste Awards in both 2015 & 2016.  Not for the faint hearted and a connoisseur’s delight, this particularly pungent cheese is a delicious new member of the Carrigbyrne line-up” www.carrigbyrne.ie.

Pairings: Humming Bark would serve nicely with a malty English style beer with roasty malt flavors like Hogshead Boys Bitter.

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For those of you with the added Charcuterie of the Month:

British Style Bangers – CHARCUTNUVO, Continental Sausage, Inc., Denver, CO

About:  A banger is a tender and fluffy sausage with a sagey lift to them.  These British Style Bangers contain humanely raised pork, and is enhanced with organic sourdough bread and spices.  It’s perfect for breakfast or dinner with mashers. www.charcutnuvo.com.

“New Loves”

Sofia – Capriole in Greenville, IN

Pasteurized, goats’ milk

About: “Capriole is located in the lush, rolling hills of Indiana, just over the Ohio River from Louisville, Kentucky. When Judy Schad and her husband Larry bought their property in 1976, they discovered that it had once belonged to Larry’s great-great-grandfather. To honor family tradition, they decided to build their new log cabin right over the foundation of the old house. First populating their family farm with all manner of animals, they soon fell in love with how affectionate, independent, and mischievous their goats were.

Judy and Larry built a healthy herd of 400 Alpine, Saanen, and Nubian goats that provided milk for their nationally known-line of handmade goat cheeses. Recently, they sold the herd to a neighboring farm to focus entirely on the cheesemaking side of the business.

Sofia is a lightly-aged brick of chevre that is beautifully layered with ash. It develops a velvety texture as it ripens under its geotrichum rind, and offers delicate, slightly sweet flavors of cream and marshmallow” www.cowgirlcreamery.com

Alp Blossom – Bavarian Alps

Raw, cows’ milk

About: “Alp Blossom is from the Hay Belt of the Alps, which spans Eastern Switzerland, Southern Germany and Western Austria, Alp Blossom is made from the raw milk of thirty-four contributing herds of Brown Swiss and Braunvieh breeds.  It is produced and aged at Sennerei Huban in Austria.  After six months, the ten pound wheels are transported to the caves at Kaeskuche in Bavaria where it is covered with the dried edible flowers and herbs from the surrounding Alpine Meadows that host the summer transhumance of the Alpine cattle.  Sennerei is a Coop established in 1901 and uses most of its milk to make Emmenthal.  Lucky for us, they use the extra milk to create the wonderfully brothy cheese that is Alp Blossom” http://www.marcellathecheesemonger.com

Little Boy Blue – Hook’s Cheese Co. in Mineral Point, WI

Pasteurized, sheeps’ milk

About: “Little Boy Blue is a blue cheese made from sheep milk instead of cows’ milk just like a true Roquefort is made from sheep milk in France. The cheese is produced during the time period of the year when the sheep are out grazing on lush grasses growing on the rolling hills of Southwest Wisconsin” www.hookscheese.com

Bonus Love: Desert Blueberry Gin Deliciousness by RedCamper in Denver, CO.  The newest flavor from this wonderful saucy jam company is just too good to pass up.  This would be wonderful alongside the Sofia.

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For those of you with the added charcuterie of the month, we have a wonderful local salami for you!

Barley Wine Salami – Elevation Charcuterie and Artisan Meats in Denver, CO

A play on the beer-mustard combination, this salami is made with Bourbon barrel aged Barley-wine and golden mustard seeds. Made with 100% humanely raised pork.” www.elevationmeats.com

Cheese of the Month Club – January 2017

We are headed out to the Winter Fancy Food Show in San Francisco this month to find some great new products for our shop, so we thought we’d highlight some of the cheeses that have won food awards throughout the years.  We hope you enjoy all these award winners, and see you in the shop soon! Come check out all the great finds we’ve come back with to share with all of you!

Bijou – Vermont Creamery in Websterville, VT

Pasteurized, goats’ milk

Awards:

• 2014, 2015 and 2016 American Cheese Society 1^st place Winner for American made/International Style
• 2016 Fancy Food Show winner for Best Cheese
• 2014 Fancy Food Show winner for Best Perishable Food Service Product
• 2014 Gold Medal at the World Cheese Awards

About: “Bijou is French for “jewel” and epitomizes all that is special about goats’ milk and the making and caring for a small cheese. This geotrichum-rinded cheese has a unique sweet and yeasty flavor.

Made with fresh pasteurized goats’ milk from family farms, Bijou curd coagulates overnight, drains in cheese cloth and is then shaped into little buttons. Dried, and ripened for one week, Bijou evolves with time, gaining a sharpness and complexity after thirty days. Serve toasted on baguette with a salad for a traditional French Bistro Chevre Chaud or on a cheeseboard” www.vermontcreamery.com.

Pairing Notes:  The Bijou would pair wonderfully with a Belgian Tripel, roasted hazelnuts and cranberries.

Avonlea Clothbound Cheddar – Prince Edward Island, Canada

Raw, cows’ milk

Awards:

• 2016 American Cheese Society – Awarded North America’s Best Clothbound Cheddar
• 2016 Canadian Cheese Awards – Awarded Canada’s Cheese of the Year and Canada’s Best Aged Cheddar
• 2015 World Cheese Awards – Awarded World’s Best Vintage Cheddar

About: “Avonlea Clothbound Cheddar’s recipe comes from the Orkney Islands, north of Scotland and is hand made in the style of the great traditional English cheddars.  The milk of Holstein cows from the small local farms in the rolling hills of Prince Edward Island, is gently heated, but not pasteurized to allow beneficial microbes to thrive and give depth of character and flavor.  The salt air and iron-rich soil of Prince Edward Island combine to add flavor and quality to this cheddar.  The Avonlea offers complex flavours with the aroma of fruit and toasted nuts with a tangy bite at the end” www.cowscreamery.ca.

Belford – James Ranch in Durango, CO

Raw, cows’ milk

Awards:

• 2016 Good Food Awards

 About: “Belford is James Ranch’s signature cheese.  They sell it in both a young and mature form.  It started out as a gouda, but after having made many changes, it now stands alone as a JR original.  It is very creamy and has a lovely tang” www.jamesranch.net.

Pairing Notes:  Belford goes exceptionally well with apples and pears, and it melts well to include in recipes.

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For those of you with the added charcuterie of the month, we have a delightful salami for you!

Czarlami – Collaboration between Salumeria Biellese in NJ and Avery Brewing in Boulder, CO

Salumeria Biellese made this salami using the Czar Russian Stout from Avery Brewing.  The Stout adds a little bit of sweetness to this delicious salami.

Staff Favorites:

Brebirousse d’Argental, Logan’s Pick About – This soft and gooey delight is made from whole sheep’s milk. The quality milk in fresh form has a wonderful silky texture and more complex flavors than similar cow’s milk cheeses. Along with the buttery richness, there are more savory notes lying just below the annatto tinged orange rind, as the cream line moves, the flavors of this cheese intensifies and when it starts to ooze out on to your cheese board, it’s ready to enjoy. Brebirousse is produced in Lyon, France, and although young sheep’s milk cheeses are not so common in the US this one will make you wonder why not. Pairing Notes – My first thought is to match up the buttery flavors with something sweet like deliciousness fruit jam and then pair with bubbles, but this cheese could equally be served with some salty Jambon and served with a hearty red. The sweetness pulls out toasty malt notes in dark beers, ie. porters, as well.

Wrangeback, Duane’s Pick About – Wrångebäck (wrong-bach) is a raw cow’s milk farmstead cheese, produced and aged 14 months at Almnäs Bruk in central Sweden. Upon first bite its flavor is both familiar and unusual, combining elements of cooked curd Alpine cheeses with higher-acid lowland cheeses like cheddar. This is the only cheese from Sweden in our shop, we love the rich cave aged alpine flavors combined with the sharp cheddar bite. Pairing Notes – Wrangeback makes a great table cheese served with dry salami, such as Cervelat. One of our favorite beverage pairings is with a hoppy ale that has some malt character. It also pairs well with Alsatian wines like riesling or a cold weather Pino.

Camembert Fermier, Veronica’s Pick About – Camembert was first created by Marie Harel in Normandy, France in 1791. Ours is produced by Fermier de Jouvence (Farm of Rejuvenation). It is one of the only true farmstead camemberts in the US, and we think, the very best! Produced from a single herd of 150 cattle that live on the farm right by where the cheese is made. The full cream milk used in this cheese gives it a rich velvety texture, and as it ages the cheese gains the earthy mushroomy flavors it is famous for. Pairing notes – Our favorite way to enjoy Camembert is to warm it just a little bit in the oven and then enjoying it by spreading it on a crusty Denver Bread Company Boule with a big bottle of red, such as Rhone Syrah.

Monte Enebro, Jon’s Pick About – This extraordinary soft-ripened goat’s milk cheese is aged 30-45 days in the Sierra del Gredos mountains of Avila, near Madrid, the unique process combines some penicillium roquefort mold with the ash in the coating. The result is flavor like no other cheese we have tried. We often refer to it as mysterious because the flavor is hard to peg, but it is so delightful. The cheesemaker, Paloma, took over the operation from her father Rafael, who began this as a labor of love. Lactic towards the center, the paste becomes more intense and piquant towards the rind, not unlike a blue. Monte Enebro truly is a special cheese! Pairing Notes – This cheese doesn’t really need anything, but I recently discovered that it’s spectacular with Blueberry gin Deliciousness and a rustic Spanish red, such as a Tempranillo.

Bonus! Miss Marjorie’s Plantain Chips Veronica discovered these delicious treats on a recent trip to Seattle, and we recently became the first store in Colorado to carry them. Since this month’s theme is our favorites, we wanted to share this new favorite with all of our cheese club members.

For those of you with the Charcuterie Option Olympia Provisions Pork Rillette About – Since trying pork rillette on a trip to France, I’ve always been a fan. For years I made my own version about once a year to serve around the holidays. When I tried Olympia Provisions’ rillette for the first time, it was the closest I’ve found to my own concoction. Pairing Notes – Serve at room temperature or even a little warmed up with bread or crackers as a vessel and with cornichons and mustard along side.