This Week's Tasting: July 25. 2017

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 cheeses, so if these 6 don’t please you, we will find you the cheeses that do.

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 Green Hill. An incomparably smooth brie-style cheese, the rind is thin and the paste is creamy and rich. Arguably America's best Camembert.

From Baetje Farms in Missouri, Bloomsdale is inspired by the traditional French cheese Valencay. Like Valnecay, Bloomsdale is a ripened goat's milk cheese dusted with ash and shaped like a pyramid with a flattened top. The Baetjes named it for their town, Bloomsdale.

Bleu Mont Cheddar is made using the traditional English method of wrapping in cloth. One man, Willi Lehner, makes the cheese at Bleu Mont Dairy. He comes from a family of Swiss cheesemakers and studied cheesemaking in Switzerland. After aging over a year in the Bleu Mont Dairy’s cave in Wisconsin, the cheddar develops and crystalline "crunch" and deep, complex flavors.

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 Liberty, 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.

Pantaleo is a rare goat cheese from the island of Sardegna, off the coast of Italy. The milk for Pantaleo comes from the Capra Sarda goat, a native breed. Aged for at least 100 days, the cheese is light with notes of black pepper and flowers.

The cheesemakers at Roth Kase in Wisconsin age Buttermilk Blue over six months to enhance its complexity and intensity. Creamy yet crumbly, this rindless blue is versatile: great in salad, great on a cheese board.

Our wine of the week a Chardonnay from Fall Creek Vineyards in Tow, Texas. It is rich and refreshing with notes of lemon curd and crisp, green apples. We taste wine from 10am to 2pm on Saturdays.

Our pairing of the week is Urban Honey – made right here in Houston, Texas!