Cheese Blog

After eating a meal richer than Donald Trump before Ivana started collecting alimony, us Wisconsin dairy tourists tucked into bed to rest for the the big day ahead: Bleu Mont, Uplands and Roth-Kase. The plan was something like this: cheese, cheese, then fondue and cheese plates.

I just came back from a cheese curd-filled, sweet milk blessed and L’Etoile-studded Wisconsin adventure. The Wisconsin Milk Marketing board contacted some of us cheesy media folks to see if they could take us to their land of milk and corn, wine and dine us, and take us to some of the best creameries around the state. I said hell yes.

Part II: Bleating Heart is one of the best sheep’s milk cheeses available today, and cheesemaker Seana Doughty, who has the determination to drive from California to Wisconsin during winter to buy sheep, and the humor to name her wheels ”Fat Bottom Girl,” is a force to be reckoned with. After tasting her samples at Cowgirl Creamery and being blown away by the flavor produced by this first-time cheesemaker, I knew I wanted to interview her for “It’s Not You, it’s Brie.”

Bleating Heart is one of the best sheep's milk cheeses on the market today, and cheesemaker Seana Doughty, who has the determination to drive from California to Wisconsin during winter to buy sheep, and the humor to name her wheels "Fat Bottom Girl," is a force to be reckoned with.

Some might write off a cheese that has been weaned on walnut liquor, fearing perhaps that the booze got to its head or affected its ability to know itself as a cheese first, and as a partner to alcohol second. With so many boozey cheeses out there exuding scents of cheap bars rather than buttery milk and balanced liqueurs, spirits, or wine, this is understandable. A cheese is easily influenced.

My favorite of the many sessions I attended at the American Cheese Society Conference late August was a love letter to transhumance. It was a damn good love letter, and I'm going sum it up for you.