The last of our posts about leprecon days long gone concerns the culinary treats made by Irelands finest livestock: cheeses. Most people’s minds stop at cheddar when thinking about any cheese from the U.K. and Ireland. Then again most people think the 600 different cheeses from France taste like Brie…
These two gems came from the glorious Anglo cheese conglomerate Neal’s Yard Dairy by way of Silver Lake. Neal’s Yard is a family run business that’s been making and selling the best English, Irish and Welsh cheese sine 1979. In the past ten years their influence on American cheese stores has been heavy. If you are every in a cheese monger’s hovel and you see something with a Neal’s Yard label, you should probably buy it. If its got some weird Celtic name it’ll probably be a little intense, but in a Nieztchean “it builds character/buck up” way. If you hunt down any of the cheddars available through Neal’s Yard, especially Montgomery’s or Greene’s, well lets just say you’ll tell Tillamook to go fuck themselves.
Gubbeen
Gubbeen was one of those Zarathustras that will forever leave a mark on our palate’s memory. It’s a washed rind cheese, meaning that after its been formed into a wheel it gets dunked in brine and salt over and over again, so it has a discernable stank to it. A relatively young cheese at 2-3 weeks affinage, it has a velvety semi firm pate, and a meaty flavor that packs a serious secondary bite. Starts off gamey ends like a Protestant shepherd’s rubber thigh high in your face: a slight sting, a little sour, but strangely invigorating.
Grain: La Chouffe “IPA”
Grape: Laboure Roi Pinot Noir (2005)
Crozier Blue
One of two prominent blues from Ireland, Crozier is the only sheeps milk blue made in Ireland, or the surrounding U.K. for that matter. It is surprisingly sweet and mild. If you’re a beginner with blue cheese this will be totally doable, and if you’re a lover of brutal blue bite, this one might leave you alone in a cranberry bog. However, there are very nice notes of fresh cream, nuts, and hay in the finish, which emphasizes that this cheese is made by a very small herd of sheep on a very small farm.
Grain: Sierra Nevada Bigfoot
Grape: Meyer’s Family Port
