This Week's Tasting: January 30, 2018

Every week at Dairymaids we select six cheeses to include in our free cheese tasting. Whenever we are open, we are tasting cheese. We stock over 150!

The folks at Sweet Grass Dairy believe great cheese comes from fresh grass and happy cows. On their sustainable farm in Thomasville, Georgia they pasture feed their Jersey cows to get the milk which makes the incomparably smooth brie-style, Green Hill. The rind is thin and the paste is creamy and rich - arguably America's best Camembert.

Estive is a special version of Ossau-Iraty. It is made only when the sheep are grazing at high altitudes in the Bearnaise mountains from June to August. Estive production is very small, comprising only 2% of overall Ossau-Iraty production. The mountain forage includes summer grasses like the Gentian (used to make Angostura bitters) and Sweet Vernal grasses (a vanilla-scented wild grass), flowers, stems and roots of licorice, thyme and blue thistle. This unusual feed combined with rich, late-cylce sheep's milk makes for a uniquely delicious cheese.

Prairie Breeze is a cheddar from the Milton Creanery, a Mennonite family, in southern Iowa. They source their cow's milk from nearby Amish dairies that grass-feed as long as weather permits. The cheddar is unique in that it is made like a cheddar, but uses cultures typical of Alpine cheeses. The result is sweet and nutty. After 9 months of aging, it still has a smooth texture, but with some crystalline crunch.

A husband and wife team, Marieke and Rolf moved to Wisconsin to start a small dairy farm like the ones they grew up on in Holland. Marieke trained with Dutch cheesemakers to make true farmhouse gouda. Her first batches were released in 2006, and started winning awards in 2007. It's a testament to their high quality milk that Marieke is able to get such robust flavor from her cheeses, such as this Cumin Gouda, aged 6-9 months and flavored with cumin. She uses only raw milk, and ages the cheese on Dutch wooden shelves within their cellar.

Main Street Jack is a new creation from Eric and Karen Tippit at Revelation Artisan Cheese in Meridian, Texas. Using raw, mostly Jersey cow's milk that they source from a dairy in nearby Hico, they make this Jack to have a semi-firm texture and sweet flavor. They rub the exterior with coffee, chocolate and pepper for a unique look and added kick.

Smokey Blue is a spectacular American original from Rogue Cheese in Oregon. It is a rindless, cow's milk blue cheese cold smoked over Oregon hazelnut shells. The smoking process gives the cheese notes of candied bacon, making it a special addition to any dish.

Our wine of the week is Portillo, a Cabernet Sauvignon from Salentein Wines in Argentina. It is full-bodied and balanced with notes of red-currant, plum, black cherry, and spice. We taste wine from 10am to 2pm on Saturdays.

Our pairing of the week is a Pumpkin Seed Salsa from American Spoon in Michigan.