Four-Cheese Review

There is little else I love more than to be surrounded by family and friends, talking, drinking, and eating very good cheese. It is in that spirit that I bring you this review of four superior cheeses that will make your next social gathering a special one.

Colby

As much as I love sharp and strong cheeses, I will always love eating Colby. This cheese, also known as Longhorn Colby or Longhorn Cheddar, is bright orange, thanks to the annatto extract, and slightly softer than cheddar and can most regularly be found, around here anyhow, in half-rounds. The taste is like mild and smooth cheddar with a pleasantly sour rennet taste that separates it from regular mild cheddar. Colby melts very well and is excellent in grilled cheese sandwiches as well as on its own.

8 Year Old Cheddar

Connoisseur Jon brought this gem back from his recent trip to Wisconsin. I had, up to this point, never seen a cheese older than 2 years. From what Jon told me, when he purchased this cheese, the salesperson said that it was at least as old as the label claimed. The cheddar was a brighter orange-yellow than the Colby and was ensconced in a thin layer of orange slime. I chalked this up to the cheese’s age and proceeded to chop it into samples for the tasters present. This cheddar was quite crumbly, but held together good enough to eat by hand. The taste was incredibly sharp, as one might imagine, but also somewhat bitter. There was the occasional hard crunchy bit that I have yet to be able to find a satisfying explanation for. This cheese is quite an experience, especially for lovers of extremely sharp cheddar. I recommend eating it plain or on an unobtrusive cracker, consider it like a fine wine; it is there to be experienced.

Horseradish Cheddar

There are a fair amount of horseradish cheddars out on the market, but beyond the initial delight of spicy horseradish, they usually fall flat. A prime example of this is Cabot’s take on this cheese: it is nothing more that pasteurized processed cheesefood product that has no right to call itself cheddar. It doesn’t melt right, it doesn’t cut right, and it sure doesn’t taste right. Shame on you Cabot, you’re better than that.

I approached Yancy’s Fancy Horseradish Cheese with obvious trepidation, and, rereading the preceding paragraph, apparently with some baggage as well. First impressions were positive; the cheese was obviously cut from a black-waxed wheel, rather than a nondescript bar. The taste was spectacularly horseradishy, very zesty and spicy. The texture is rich and creamy, like a good cheddar. At its roots, that is precisely what this cheese was, a solid cheddar cheese, amped up with horseradish.

Buche Goat Cheese

This was one that Connoisseur Javier introduced me to. This goat’s milk cheese is, in essence, two cheeses; on the outside is a mild, buttery brie-like cheese with a thin, edible rind. In the center is a crumbly, dry, tart, and tangy chevre-like cheese. As far as I’m concerned, the center is the star of the cheese; it has a refreshing, lemony flavor that pairs beautifully with the mouthwatering tanginess that permeates this cheese. In short, it looks like, and tastes like a bull’s-eye. Well… not literally like the eye of a bull, but you know what I mean. Buche goes very well with sesame crackers, fresh fruit, and good hearty bread.