Amoureux from Baetje Farms

On April 16, 2018April 21, 2018 By Mark BilbreyIn Cheese ReviewsLeave a comment

My cheese counter was lucky enough to land THREE amazing cheeses from Baetje Farms, including a new addition to their line-up called “Amoureux.” I was absolutely stunned by it–an immediate addition to my all-time favorite list. It’s everything you love about aged Manchego with a few sweet and savory bonuses: notes of lemon zest, butter, and fresh grass. The sheepy lanolin and goaty citric flavors complement each other perfectly here. Despite a high price-point, the entire wheel sold in just a few days (which is really fast for a little cheese counter like mine).

One regular cheese customer and fellow turophile tried it and joked that it was so good it made her want to cry. I laughed, but then noticed her eyes were kind of misting over, and then my eyes kind of misted over too because taking that much pleasure in cheese (or anything, really) is a beautiful thing.

amoureux review — (Image: Katharine Azzolini)

Blue Hills Bleu by Wisconsin Sheep Dairy Cooperative

On March 3, 2018March 4, 2018 By Mark BilbreyIn Cheese ReviewsLeave a comment

Milton Creamery’s Flory’s Truckle

On February 18, 2018February 21, 2018 By Mark BilbreyIn Cheese Reviews1 Comment

One last post from the newsletter here. This cheese… good heavens! It makes me blush. How can it be so vegetal and fruity and grassy and savory all at once?! Anyway, I gotta thank Kat for dreaming up “Mark’s Cheese Adventures” for the PRB newsletter, making it look rad, and promoting this blog. And, hey, Milton Creamery, you rock. These folks in Iowa make only two cheeses–no fussing about–but they’re both immaculate. Go Hawkeyes!

florystruckle — (Image: Katharine Azzolini)

You can learn more about Milton Creamery here.

Roelli’s Dunbarton Blue

On February 18, 2018February 21, 2018 By Mark BilbreyIn Cheese ReviewsLeave a comment

Here’s another cheese description from PRB’s newsletter. Roelli is the master of the cheddar/blue hybrid, as epitomized in two of their cheeses: Dunbarton Blue and Red Rock. You’d be hard pressed (pun intended) to find anything like it. There’s Huntsman, from the UK, which is really like a layer cake of two kinds of cheeses (Double Gloucester and Blue Stilton)–not at all the same. And there’s Weinlese, a cheddar-blue combo that’s really more like a soft blue with a slight cheddar tang–again, not at all the same. Dunbarton represents American cheese-making genius–I expect it to be a long-lived classic.

dunbartonarticle — (Image: Katharine Azzolini)

Check out Roelli’s website here.

Cascadia Creamery’s Glacier Blue

On February 18, 2018February 21, 2018 By Mark BilbreyIn Cheese ReviewsLeave a comment

I wrote this description of Glacier Blue way back in July for Porter Road Butcher’s “Butcher Block Bulletin,” a regular email update for our customers. Our PR Manager, Kat (who happens to be an extraordinary cheesemonger, too!), made it look real purty. I’ll post these cheese descriptions from the newsletter on this blog, too. As for the cheese itself–I haven’t had it in the shop for a while and need to correct that omission post-haste! I miss it terribly! What a phenomenal, unique domestic blue it is–so complex that I taste something new each time I have a bite. What’s perhaps most marvelous is the toasty smokiness of it, despite having never been exposed to smoke or heat.