**Note: I received a free cheese tasting in exchange for this non-biased review of The Cheeses of Europe**
A couple weeks ago, I received an email from a representative of The Cheeses of Europe who wanted to come by my office and do a cheese tasting to promote a number of small cheese brands out of France. Free cheese, you say? Ok.
This is my happy place.
Four cheese experts representing various cheese companies came to the matchstick office with plenty of cheese for us all to sample. They were all very knowledgeable and the cheese they brought to sample was delicious and relatively inexpensive (and you can get it at Costco or Whole Foods!)
How does one achieve the title of “Cheese expert?”
I really enjoyed all of the cheeses, but the ones that came from Isigny Ste Mere were my favorite by far. The 2 round pumpkin looking ones are the same cheese, just aged for different periods of time. The orange one, mimolette, was aged 3 months and was creamy and tangy, and the one above it was aged for 18 months and was hard and sharp and amazing. They also brought some butter which we tried on a cracker and it was some of the best butter I’ve ever had.
Channeling my inner Paula Deen and eating plain butter on a cracker.
Here’s a more professional shot of the mimolette. Is it possible to be attracted to cheese??
This is a $200 wheel of cheese, NBD.
I really liked the spreadable cheese from Interval cheese, which was a cow’s milk cheese that went really well on crackers. Kind of like a whipped cream cheese, but better. They also had a bleu d’auvergne which was an amazing blue cheese (bottom right) that I imagine would be amazing on a cheeseburger or in a salad. Their final cheese was a triple cream brie (bottom left), which was really creamy and rich and smooth. It went really well with the wine we were drinking and it made an amazing baked brie later that night!
I love cheese. Cheesy, cheese, cheese. Here it goes down, down into my belly…
The rep from Lactalis also brought brie (Le Chatelain), which tasted like it should be way more expensive than it was. This one was really delicious and also made a great baked brie with raspberry preserves. You can get this one at Costco, which is kind of dangerous knowledge for me to have.
Dat cracker tho.
In case you’re interested, here’s a list of all the cheese we tasted:
- Le brie – Isigny – smooth, mild, creamy
- Mimolette – Isigny – Hard, sharp, delish
- Butter – Isigny – Smooth, salty, rich
- Epoisses – French Cheese Club – Smoky and stinky
- Pont l’eveque – French Cheese Club – Buttery, tangy
- Delice de Bourgogne – French Cheese Club – kind of tasted like broccoli
- Blue d’auvergne – Interval – Tangy, sour, creamy
- Saint Angel – Interval – Creamy, buttery, mild
- Whipped Cheese – Interval – Super creamy, mild
- Le Chatelain Brie – Lactalis – Creamy, mellow, rich
- Le Chatelain Camembert – Lactalis – Creamy, buttery, sharp-ish
So much cheese. This is the best.
So if you want to impress your family and friends at Thanksgiving this year, you should pick up some of these cheese and some fancy crackers and I guarantee you’ll be the talk of the party. Thanks Cheeses of Europe for letting me sample your awesome cheesy goodness!
