Cheesey Review: January's cheese of month club

I was anticipating the Mirabo Walnut to be my favorite, because I generally like a brie textured cheese with a rind that has something added to it, whether it is nuts or dried fruit or a ribbon of wine. But in fact, I liked the Five Territories best, because it was the most unfamiliar to me. There were five different types British of cheeses (listed from the bottom layer in the photo towards the top): Double Gloucester, Red Leicester, Cheshire, Derby, Cheddar - pressed in layers to form to form the wheel this wedge came from. The layers easily broke apart so you could taste the cheeses individually or all together. The Cheshire layer was my favorite. It was creamier then the others, and had a distinctive flavor that I had not experienced before. Ironically, Cheshire is believed to be Britain's oldest named cheese first being mentioned in the Domesday Book written at the end of the 11th century.

The Amish Blue from Wisconsin (go badgers!) was quite nice also. Blue is not necessarily the first cheese I would reach for if given multiple options, but this blue was creamy and coated your mouth. It tasted fresh (well as fresh as moldy cheese can taste I guess!), so it did not have that tangy or overpowering taste that poor quality blue cheeses can have from 'bad' mold. This would for sure be a winner on a cheese plate, even in a sophisticated crowd at a party, or atop a bison burger!

The Mirabo Walnut was not what I was expecting. It is a Bavarian cheese that came from Heising, a town which free-range grazes their cows in the Bavarian alps. The flesh of the cheese was creamy and smooth but did not have much flavor to it. The walnuts provided texture but no additional flavor. However, the rind was quite interesting. It provided a 'toasted' flavor to the cheese which was actually quite nice. Many people peel of the rind of a brie type cheese, but in this instance you would be missing out on the most complex part. The rind also really brought to life the flavor and texture of the cheese after a sip of Tempranillo (red Spanish blended wine). This cheese changed more then the other two, with the addition of a sip of wine.

I am excited to try to them again and see how I feel about the flavors now that I have given a once over.