A Trip to Uplands Cheese

by Austin Coe Butler

After an almost two year hiatus dominated by pandemic uncertainty, this April the buyers returned to Uplands Cheese in Dodgeville, Wisconsin, to do batch selection of Pleasant Ridge Reserve. Each year, France 44 selects and purchases batches, or a days worth of production, of Pleasant Ridge to serve to our customers. Pleasant Ridge Reserve is a special cheese to us. In addition to being a “Day One,” meaning it’s been in the case since the cheese shop opened, the long relationship we’ve fostered with Andy Hatch and the crew at Uplands Cheese and seeing how Pleasant Ridge Reserve and Rush Creek Reserve have changed over the years have been among the greatest rewards of this business.

For a dairy that produces a cheese as celebrated as Pleasant Ridge Reserve–the most awarded cheese in the United States–Uplands Cheese is remarkably humble and low-key. There are no billboards soliciting the creamery and not even an entrance sign at the country road you turn onto, just a long gravel road that crests the gently sloping hill Uplands sits on. To your right you can see the fields taking on the first, fresh green of spring as murmurations of starlings coalesce and shift in clouds above the resting cows. Cows that spend most of their time resting and laying down are an auspicious sign for any dairy farmer, as it means they are lactating, and lactation means milk.

When the buyers arrived at the dairy, Andy welcomed us at the threshold to the reception room. Andy, like Uplands Cheese, is a remarkably humble, humorous, kind, and curious person who has retained his humility throughout the great success of his cheese (and a stint in a Super Bowl LIII commercial for Wisconsin Cheese). His avuncular personality has made him a great friend and mentor to many other fantastic Midwest cheesemakers like Veronica Pedraza of Blakesville Creamery and the Annas of Landmark Creamery. We had to swap our shoes out for sanitized Crocs, galoshes, and gumboots before we could enter. Maintaining the beneficial microbiology of a creamery is paramount, and before entering, it’s imperative that you become a blank slate, so after a cup of coffee and catching up with Andy in the reception room, we scrubbed our hands and put on lab coats and hair nets. As we entered the creamery, we trudged through an anti-septic foam that’s sprayed on the floor to further sanitize the shoes. A renegade microbe can easily wreak havoc on the delicately calibrated microbiology of a creamery.

What immediately strikes you upon entering a creamery where cheese is aged is the smell of ammonia. Ammonia is a natural byproduct of aging cheese from proteolysis, the process by which proteins in the cheese breakdown. Your eyes sting and tear. Your nose runs and a hot, burning sensation catches you in the back of the throat. None of this is dangerous, and once you acclimate, it’s easier to ignore. As Andy showed us the different aging rooms where wheels of Pleasant Ridge were being turned and wiped with a brine, the smells by turn mellowed and sweetened before intensifying.

The creamery room where Pleasant Ridge and Rush Creek Reserve are made is quite small. With our group of four and Andy as tour guide, we were constantly cycling and shuffling around between the forms and tanks. When Pleasant Ridge production is up, usually only two people can work in the room simultaneously. There are three aging rooms, each packed with racks of Pleasant Ridge. The wooden slats the cheese ages on are stained with the rich tannins of spruce bark from Rush Creek Reserves. Within each of these wooden boards lives a thriving, beneficial microbial community that contribute to Pleasant Ridge’s flavor. After the creamery tour, it was time to sample the batches for selection.

Andy presented us with eight batches of Pleasant Ridge ranging from May to July of last year. Having worked with us for over a decade now, Andy knows the shop’s taste—a fact made plain when the first two wheels we tried were from the batches we selected. Andy cored each wheel, and we each tried a piece, noting its aroma, texture, and flavor. The first batch had a younger, fudgy texture and complex tropical fruit flavors, with hoppy citrus notes. The second batch was firmer in texture and beefier in flavor like a roast with caramelized root vegetables. After sampling each wheel, we narrowed it down to three and tried them again. The decision was unanimous: July 12th and 17th, 2021. We went into the aging room and signed the tags.

With the business out of the way, it was time for pleasure. Andy let us sample some of the oddities aging in the creamery as well—a few wheels sheep's milk cheese, some goudas, some especially large wheels of Pleasant Ridge. We sampled one batch of Pleasant Ridge that is bound for another shop in the Midwest that tasted uncannily like prosciutto. Afterwards, Andy gave us some roadies and we walked through the fields with the cows, paying a visit to the calves that had just been born. We talked of the many exciting happenings at Uplands—new toys for the creamery like a cheese turning robot, discussions of a larger format wheel of Pleasant Ridge, a new field for pasturage, the potential of a retail space, and a future aging facility. We stopped by his house, from which he still walks to work each day, and then we drove to Spring Green for dinner at Homecoming, an old schoolhouse that has been renovated into a restaurant that focuses on Midwestern ingredients. The Midwest is brimming with places like Homecoming that signal great opportunity for rural, small town communities and a renewed—or some might say continued—interest in good, slow food. The night ended with a walk to the aptly named Jeffrey’s House of Foolishness for Wisconsin old fashions and two dollar bottles of Schlitz. In the morning, Andy recommended breakfast sandwiches at the new Kwik Trip in town for the ailing buyers.

Batch selection is an integral part of what we do and what we believe in at France 44. When you buy cheese from our shop, you know that your money supports not just our family-owned business, but the livelihoods of all the people and animals who milk, make, and truck the cheese to us. You are preserving traditions and communities. You are supporting families. This memorial day, as you share your time with your family, share a piece of Pleasant Ridge with them and let them know all the love and labor that goes into it from maker to monger.

Cheese Profile: Alemar Cheese

by Joe Kastner

Here at the Cheese Shop of France 44, we sell cheeses made in all sorts of exciting locales- from the towering, picturesque mountains of Switzerland; to sweeping Welsh grasslands; to coastal Spanish islands. But some of my favorites come right from our backyard. The cheeses we sell that are made closest to home (barring our house-made mozzarella, of course) come to us from Alemar Cheese, and they’re made right here in Minneapolis!

Alemar has been around the cheese scene for a little while now, having opened in 2008 with their original operation based out of Mankato. The company was founded by Keith Adams, a California native, who named it after his two daughters, Alexandra and Mariel. The first cheese they started making then was the Bent River Camembert-style, an earthy, tangy, spreadable nod to the classic French standby. Just a couple years after opening, Bent River was already winning awards with the American Cheese Society, a feat that did not go unnoticed. 

We’re happy to sell Bent River at our shop, as well as a couple other offerings from the local makers. Blue Earth is their larger-format Brie-style cheese; another soft, spreadable one that tastes like a delicious mushroom butter. This is one that we cut-to-order at the counter, in case you just need a little snack for the road. Another option we carry is Good Thunder, a washed-rind soft cheese that’s actually treated with Surly Bender beer during its aging process, putting a fun MN twist on this traditional Reblochon-style. This pungent little square is for all you strong-cheese lovers, with a bigger kick than its siblings and a bready, sometimes fruity flavor. 

Keith and the team at Alemar have always attributed a lot of their success to the great milk that they get from local Minnesotan farms. They moved up from Mankato to the Food Building in Minneapolis in 2019, but still get their milk from the same trusted local farmers. Starting with delicious cow’s milk from trusted dairy partners is a great way to help ensure only the finest end product is being produced. Keith and his team, including Head Cheesemaker Charlotte Serino, are some of the more prolific Minnesota artisan cheesemakers in recent history, and we are super excited to try whatever they come up with next!

Cheese Profile: Mt Tam

by Austin Coe Butler

            Cowgirl Creamery’s Mt. Tam is one of the most iconic and awarded triple crèmes made in the United States. If you’ve had only one artisanal cheese made in the United States, this was probably it. And there’s good reason why. It’s flavor and texture are remarkable, which has led to numerous gold medals at the American Cheese Society and Good Food Awards. Mt. Tam is also the result of pioneering and radical practices.

            Cowgirl Creamery was founded by Sue Conley and Peg Smith who met as college students at the University of Tennessee in the 70s. They were heavily involved in the social and political movements of that time, and after a road-trip to the Bay Area they decided to relocate to Berkeley and work at establishments of California cuisine like the Obrero Hotel and Chez Panisse. (At this same time, Laura Chenel was producing chèvre for Alice Waters at Chez Panisse.) Conley and Smith befriended dairy farmer Ellen Straus, and when they started producing cheese in an old hay barn in Point Reyes, they were dedicated to using local, organic, single source milk from the pasture grazed cows of the Straus Family Creamery.

            Just as American winemakers were moving to emphasize the terroir of the Sonoma or Napa Valley, Cowgirl Creamery was also emphasizing the locality, place, and terroir of West Marin County. Even after the company moved the majority of their production to Petaluma, they still create their washed-rind Red Hawk in Point Reyes owing to the dense fog, sea spray, and unique microbial and yeast communities in the air that give Red Hawk’s rind its signature color and flavor that varies with the seasons. They still use the same brine they’ve washed that cheese with for the past fifteen years.

            Mt. Tam was, and still is, revelatory for American consumers who had only ever had bland, bodega brie. Here was a brie-style cheese that was being made according to the highest standards in the United States and not being mass produced abroad for import to a country with stringent pasteurization laws. While many think of it as a brie, it’s a unique creation of its own. During the cheesemaking process, Mt. Tam’s curd is washed. This washing process, common to goudas, removes lactic acid and makes for sweeter cheese and gives Mt. Tam its sweet cream notes. After the curd has been formed into molds and the young cheeses have drained overnight, they are brined in a salt-water and whey solution. Its stout shape and added height gives the cheese a fudgy core that most flat, disc-shaped brie-style cheeses never achieve. You’ll find all the classic bloomy-rind, brie flavors like button mushrooms and a rich, buttery cream-line, but with added complexity. For that reason, it’s incomparably accessible and versatile.

            There’s no wrong way to serve this cheese–with a dollop of bright apricot jam, alongside fresh fruit, cured meats, or olives. Slice the top off, broil it, and drizzle it with spicy chili crisp. Any way you choose to enjoy it, it deserves its place on your Easter cheese board as a true American original.

Cheesemaker Profile: Landmark Creamery

by Austin Coe Butler

Sheep’s milk is uncommon. To start, sheep are notoriously stubborn. They only produce milk for three to four months after lambing in the winter or spring. It isn’t possible to milk them most of the year like goats or year round like cows. They also produce a small amount of milk. Proportional to their size, sheep produce less milk than cows, water buffalo, and even goats. But what sheep’s milk lacks in volume it makes up for in fat. The “fat globules” (that’s a technical term) are larger than the fat globules of cow's or goat’s milk, which give sheep cheeses their buttery characteristics. As these fatty acids break down, they produce the characteristic tangy, spicy notes of Roquefort, Pecorino, and Manchego. There’s another reason why sheep’s milk cheeses are uncommon in the US–sheep are uncommon!

Notice that those last three cheeses (Roquefort, Pecorino, and Manchego) are all European. In the US, we don’t have the tradition of sheep’s milk or meat. I mentioned briefly in my piece on Vermont Shepherd’s Verano, the first artisanal sheep cheese in the US, that sheep’s milk cheeses just aren’t a thing in the US. And that has to do with something that goes to heart of cheesemaking: genetics.

American sheep have been bred for one purpose: fiber. Wool was placed on the Pentagon’s list of strategic materials in 1954 because military uniforms were made from wool. As a result, massive government subsidies compelled shepherds to breed for wool, and even though the military declassified wool as a strategic material in the 60s, many states still subsidize the production of wool. Additionally, American sheep genetics were limited because of outbreaks of Bovine spongiform encephalopathy (Mad Cow Disease). In our intra-Covid world, we are anxiously attuned to the microscopic, the microbial, but prior to this, many of us were enjoying the gentle comforts of a “post-Pasteurian world." The BSE outbreaks of the 80s and 90s shook animal agriculture. Especially in the UK, hundreds of people fell violently ill from Mad Cow Disease and 178 died, leading to the immediate restrictions on animal products like meat, dairy, and genetic material. British beef was banned in some countries as late as 2019.

Enter the Annas of Landmark Creamery.

Anna Landmark and Anna Thomas Bates met at a potluck over a decade ago and before they knew it they were conspiring a creamery under the influence of some Old Fashions. Landmark is the cheesemaker while Bates manages sales, marketing, and everything in between. Landmark Creamery’s milk comes from a herd of sheep that are a mixed breed of Lacaune and East Friesian sheep crossed with Assaf, an Israeli hybrid. Only a few years ago new Lacaune genetics (the sheep used to make Roquefort) we imported into the US. The arrival of new sheep genetics to the US market really is a game changer, and we are in the midst of an exciting and dynamic period of sheep’s milk cheesemaking.

Running a small creamery is hazardous, to say the least. ATB has joked that starting a small creamery has been like the pictures of Obama before and after his presidency, referring to the grey hairs they’ve gained along the way. In addition to all the investment and fundraising that go into starting a new business and the time and effort that go into making cheeses that almost all take six months to age, there was an incident when their cold storage facility threw away their cheese, valued at over $20,000! Such things can shutter a small company, but the cheese community rallied behind them. Landmark Creamery is the product of family, friendships, and community support.

Landmark Creamy now has a provisions shop in Belleville, WI, where you can shop all their delightful cheeses. They make a number of sheep's milk cheeses, and this week we’re thrilled to carry three: Anabasque, Rebel Miel, and their sheep’s milk Taleggio (so new it doesn’t have a name yet). Anabasque is an homage to the cheeses of the Basque Country, like Ossau-Iraty. It has a walnut nuttiness to it and a bright, espellete fruitiness. The Taleggio we have now is remarkably gooey and luxurious. You can taste and feel the extra fat sheep’s milk has (remember those large “fat globules” I mentioned?). Rebel Miel is washed in a Paint It Black beer that gives the rind a flinty, chocolaty flavor and leaves the paste spring, bright, and complex.

Come see how this uncommon milk makes beautiful cheese!

Softies Highlight

This week, instead of a longer form write-up focusing on a specific cheese or certain producer and in the spirit of our 20% off all softies promotion, I thought it would be fun to do something different. What better way to inspire excitement than to hear from someone who is passionate and excited? Here is a collection of voices from a few of our mongers about what their favorite softies are. Who knows, they might become your new favorite, too.

~ACB

Carol Ann, Alta Langa Robiola Bosina and Alta Langa Cossanella

It's all about the texture with these two. Both of these Italian beauts have a delicate rind with an unctuous, silky texture. Cossanella stands out with its Annatto washed rind. Robiola Bosina is both cow and sheep's milk, giving it a slight depth of flavor. Enjoy with Lambrusco (Piazza Grande $14.99) or a Saison (Saison Dupont $12.49).

Sophia Stern, Capriole Sofia

Capriole's Sofia has always been one of my favorite cheeses. It helps that the cheese and I share a name (sort of), but Sofia is also perfectly tangy and bright and visually stunning with its unique shape, fluffy interior, and clean ash lines running through the center. Definitely enjoy this cheese with a darker rose or sparkling white and try it with the American Spoon Sour Cherry Preserves from the shop! If you want to have a real adventure, pick up a bag of dill pickle potato chips and eat them with little pieces of Sofia on it. I promise it's amazing.

Joe Kastner, Bergamino di Bufala

Bergamino di Bufala is always one of my go-to softies. Think buffalo mozzarella with a rind on it. This lusciously buoyant little pillow of water-buffalo cheese from Northern Italy will be giving your taste buds sweet dreams. Try it on toasted baguette or with a spicy pepper jelly!

Maura Rice, Nettle Meadow Kunik

I think of Kunik as the Mt. Tam of the East Coast; it’s a tried-and-true American classic, having been made for over two decades at the Warrensburg creamery. It’s advertised as a triple cream, and it’s certainly buttery and deliciously rich, but Kunik is actually mostly goat’s milk, which gives it a lovely tang. The best part, for me, is that Nettle Meadow is a longtime sanctuary farm for retired and unwanted animals, so in addition to acquiring some tasty cheese you’re also supporting animal welfare.

Austin Coe Butler, Fromagerie Germain Langres

I love everything about this cheese from its brainy, vermiculate appearance, barnyardy aroma, gooey texture, and chicken-stock savoriness, to its humble origins as a farmhouse cheese and dazzling presentation when served with champagne or a shot of brandy burning blue in the fontaine or depression that caps this cheese. While it is a stinker, it’s easy to love. Langres is superb with a bottle of bubbly and smeared onto plain potato chips for a delightfully gauche and positively post-modern celebration of cheese.

Raclette Roundup!

by Austin Coe Butler

Raclette takes its name from “racler,” which in a dialect of French Swiss, means “to scrape,” and many hundreds of years ago, when the cowherds who made this cheese would gather around a fire on cool Alpine summer nights, they would warm the cheese against the fire and scrape it, browned and bubbling, onto their bread. As we head into another bout of bitter cold, we are promoting three Raclette-style cheeses, because what better way to indulge yourself on a winter’s night than with some broiled Raclette cheese?

            Spring Brook Reading Raclette is an American Raclette made in Reading, Vermont, from raw Jersey cow’s milk. It is milder than its Swiss forebears but just as dreamy to melt. (We use it on and in a number of our melts, sandwiches, and prepared foods like our Raclette pappardelle.) The supple, creamy texture and buttery flavor make it an excellent entryway into the realm of Raclette.

            Risler Square Raclette is real-deal Swiss Raclette made by Käserei Oberli Rislen in St. Galen, Switzerland. It is notable first for its shape (square), second for its smell (“barnyardy” is being bashful), and finally for its flavor (with a sharp tang and long, funky finish like ramps or Bärlauch that still have some dirt on them). Outside of lounging around in a Chalet wearing a turtleneck and a pair of Finken in the Alps, this is as close as you can get to the veritable experience without the fear of altitude sickness.

            Montgomery’s Ogleshield deserves an explanation as it is an exceptional cheese though unfamiliar to many. You most certainly know Jamie Montgomery’s Cheddar, a titanic, standard-setting West Country Farmhouse Cheddar that is rich, robust, and grassy. Ogleshield was originally called Jersey Shield, since it is made from Jersey cow’s milk and the wide, circular shape resembled the Yetholm-type shield an archaeological investigation on Jamie’s farm turned up among the remains of a bronze century fort. But the problem with Jersey Shield was that the warmth and humidity of the English summers made this cheese spoil from the inside and bloat with gas until it exploded! It wasn’t until William Oglethorpe, who had spent time in the Swiss Alps making cheese saw the wheels of Jersey Shield and suggested Jamie brine them. Brining cheeses allows preserving salt to penetrate them to their core in a way that surface salting cannot. Large cheese like Gruyère and Comté, Emmental and Parmigiano Reggiano are all brined. Jamie repaid Bill by bestowing his name on the cheese, and thus Ogleshield was born. If you are ever in London’s Burough Market, you can find Bill Oglethorpe at his market stall Kappacasein serving his scrumptious grilled cheese sandwiches or ‘cheese toasties” as the Brits say, a mix of Montgomery’s cheddar, Ogleshield, and an assortment of alliums griddled to perfection, or scraping luxurious waves of broiled Ogleshield over boiled potatoes with a scrunch of black pepper and cornichons to garnish. This cheese also deserves an uncooked place on a cheeseboard where the fudgy texture and notes of savory roasted peanuts and vegetal, fresh pea tendril shine. Whenever one of our mongers samples Ogleshield just to remember what it tastes like, they undoubtedly say, “I love this cheese!”

            Don’t have a Raclette machine? Don’t worry! You can always broil slices of cheese on a sheep pan and swoop them up with a wide spatula and blanket whatever you desire. Raclette is great in fondue, Tartiflette, or the rarer Welsh Rarebit. No matter how you are serving these cheeses, broiled and scraped over potatoes, melted into scrambled eggs, or savored at their ambient temperatures alongside a bottle of Gillmore Mariposa País, these cheeses offer the depth and breadth of Raclette with something for everyone to love.

Roncadella Parmigiano Reggiano

by Austin Coe Butler

Between Reggio Emilia and Modena, in the lowlands of the Po River Valley where Parmigiano Reggiano came to be, the Caseificio di Gavasseto e Roncadella has been making Parmigiano Reggiano for generations. Despite the weight of tradition, this quiet caseificio does things their own way. To start with, they are led by the only female master cheesemaker, Marisa Verzelloni, who took over cheesemaking as the casaro in her 50s after he husband passed away. They make just 24 wheels a day, and they only sell their cheese and fresh butter out of their small retail shop. Roncadella turns the wheels in brine daily to ensure contact with the air, whereas most producers submerge the wheel in brine. They charge more in price than other producers, but still, people choose their cheese over others, and there’s still a line out the door before holiday shopping. And while people outside the little village have started to find out about Roncadella Parmigiano Reggiano, the coop still only sells primarily to local restaurants and vendors and never large consolidators and distributors. At the 2018 World’s Best Cheese Award, this little creamery snatched not just a silver and a gold medal, but the most prestigious prize, the Super Gold!

            Roncadella Parmigiano Reggiano has a lovely fruit aroma, a light caramel sweetness, brodo savoriness, and a touch of spice combined with milky tang to surprise you along its delightfully long finish. The sweetness of this Parmigiano Reggiano makes it especially suited for a simple pasta dish: pasta burro e parmigiano, pasta with butter and Parmigiano. Simply by adding al dente pasta to a saucepan with a knob of butter, a ladle of starchy pasta water, a generous handful of Roncadella Parmigiano Reggiano, and stirring together for several minutes, a gorgeous, glossy sauce will form for the ultimate Italian comfort food. This is actually the original fettuccine Alfredo before heavy cream was added to the dish in American kitchens. It’s important to use dried pasta when making this, as fresh pasta is too eggy for such a rich dish.

            While Parmigiano Reggiano is a fantastic culinary cheese, it is an equally glorious table cheese that deserves a crowning place on your next cheeseboard. We’ve previously paired the Cravero Parmigiano Reggiano with Flora Prosecco, and this or any other crisp, bubbly white would be exquisite with Roncadella’s Parmigiano Reggiano. Try serving it with a sliced Bosc pear and a streak of our staff’s favorite Olivewood balsamic for the perfect bite.

            If you have some of our Cravero Parmigiano Reggiano, try it side-by-side Roncadella to taste the difference. These side-by-side tastings are the best way to discover and explore the many differences, both subtle and explicit, in cheeses that are ostensibly the same. Cravero is made in the Emilian Apennine mountains by Massimo Libra and then matured by the Cravero family in Bra, which is located in Piedmont. Roncadella is made in the valley at the base of those mountains and matured the whole twenty-four months at the same location. The plants and people, animals and atmosphere, are what separate these cheeses, each expressing in its own unique way what we love about Parmigiano Reggiano.

Gruyere Alpage

by Austin Coe Butler

While we continue to celebrate the many exciting holiday cheeses and pairings we will have for the next month, we thought we would take a moment to celebrate another seasonal cheese that reminds us of the long, light days of summer, and how green our world can be: Gruyère Alpage. 

Gruyère Alpage takes its name from two very important places. The first is Gruyère, of course, a region that has now, in our administrative age, been strictly demarcated to a small region of Switzerland. But Gruyère itself takes its name from a people and moment in time. Back in the 13th century, yes, that far back, when Charlemagne was Holy Roman Emperor, he founded a corps of officiers gruyers to manage his forests, or gruyeries as they were called then. Cheesemakers in the region had to buy their fuel from these foresters to heat their milk and make cheese and, then as now, cheesemaking was not lucrative work, so a trade was agreed upon: fuel for cheese. This is how a name is attached to a place. 

And now for the Alpage. In many places where arable land is too scarce and precious to graze livestock on, shepherds have to take their herds up the mountain and from mid-May to mid-October they graze their cows in these Alpine meadows, these alpages, These alpages, are the result of glacial erosion, but they are also the result of clearing by gruyers, who, by chopping down impenetrable, evergreen pines and spruce allowed the sun to stream in and foster wildflowers and grasses to dominate. 

The centuries old tradition of pastoral transhumance, taking animals to and from pasturage seasonally, is one of the most remarkable celebrations of all those things entwined in cheese: the people, the animals, the places, the flavors, traditions, and cultures. When the cows descend from the mountains, often crowned with elaborate arrangements of spruce branches spangled with marigolds, sunflowers, and ribbons, hundreds gather to watch. The sound of their bells rings through the valley, echoing off the Alpine mountainsides, is stirring. When I first saw the tranzhumanza in Piedmont (or Désalpes in French / Alpabzug in Swiss-German), I was standing next to a German woman who whispered to herself again and again in wonderment, “Unglaublich, unglaublich….”—unbelievable, incredible, indescribable.

Our Gruyère Alpage is made by the Mauron family at Guedères north of Montreaux at over 4,000 feet. They still make Gruyère Alpage the way it has been for centuries. They still heat the milk in massive copper cauldrons over burning lumber. They still cut and strain the scalded curd through linens and into wooden forms to be tightened under presses twisted by hand. Their cows still look fabulous coming down the mountain during the Alpabzug.

Wheres our Gruyère 1655 tends to be more savory, beef brothy, and evocative of French onion soup that a broiled, blistered crown of Gruyère always sits atop, Gruyère Alpage is fruitier, more herbaceous, floral, and grassy. What immediately strikes you is the aroma of this cheese, which is reminiscent of juicy pears, sweet apples, and ripe Alpine strawberries. The initial fruity acidity gives way to bold, grassy waves of salt as you reach that allium savoriness and barnyard funkiness towards the rind. Gruyère Alpage reminds me of the best Comtés: bright, fruity, nutty, complex enough to find a kaleidoscopic array of flavors inside it.

Rush Creek Reserve

by Austin Coe Butler

Like Uplands Cheese’s Pleasant Ridge Reserve, Rush Creek Reserve is another old world cheese made in an American context. Having spent a season in the Jura making Vacherin Mont d’Or, Rush Creek Reserve is cheesemaker Andy Hatch’s tribute to that classic cheese. Like Mont d’Or, Rush Creek Reserve is made at the precise moment in the autumn when the cows transition from diverse, fresh pasturage to cured hay and the milk becomes richer and higher in fat. This autumn, hay-fed milk lends itself to an indulgent, rich texture like custard or pudding.

            Once the autumn milk is set with rennet, the curd is cut by hand and then ladled gently into small forms (the autumn’s milk, while richer in fat, is less in volume than the summer’s milk). The forms are then flipped and allowed to drain overnight before being brined in the morning and wrapped in a girdle of boiled spruce bark cambium. This bark not only gives the cheese its structure, but imparts a woodsy flavor that compliments the cured meat flavors found in this cheese. The cheeses are left to ripen in the storeroom and, after the sixty day maturation minimum placed on unpasteurized cheeses in the United States, the cheeses are sent out just in time for the holiday season.

            There is festive air about this cheese beyond its arrival during the holidays, though. As a soft, seasonal cheese, it’s only available from late October to January, and the anticipation that builds among staff and customers to opening a Rush Creek is like opening a present. Andy’s wife, Caitlin, also paints a beautiful watercolor poster that accompanies each year’s batch. This fanfare and celebration is a fitting end to the grueling cheesemaking season when Andy and his staff are often working seventeen hours a day making not only Rush Creek Reserve but the last batches of Pleasant Ridge as well. The cows go dry, the days grow short, and the meditative practice of washing and tending to the wheels of Pleasant Ridge for the next season begins. By the cheese’s nature, it is meant to be shared. Once opened, it should be consumed, and its size is a bit too large and rich for someone to solo, though a few of the cheesemonger’s at France 44 try to each year.

            Like all cheese, Rush Creek Reserve is best at room temperature. Let it temp up over the course of five or six hours, or bring it up in a warm oven by removing the paper and wrapping the cheese in foil or placing it in a ceramic crock. (Uplands Cheese offers an oven crock made by Wilson Creek Pottery explicitly for this purpose.) Once the cheese is up to temp, slice the top rind off and serve it with a spoon. While this cheese is made with delicacy, there’s no need to be precious with it; it’s excellent dolloped on roasted meat and vegetables, and each winter Andy freezes a few Rush Creeks and takes them to the local pub where they deep fry them.

            Customers often talk about how this is the perfect cheese for the holidays when friends and family are around, and we couldn’t agree more. With small gatherings becoming more viable for people and this holiday season likely to be the first time many of us have celebrated our respective holidays or seen their family members in a long time, this gorgeous cheese is the perfect holiday centerpiece to serve and enjoy with your loved ones.

            Please note that this cheese is so highly anticipated that you won’t be able to take one straight from our case just yet! If you’d like one as soon as possible, you can preorder them online to ensure pick up staring October 29th.

 (Rush Creek Reserve 2021 print painted by Caitlin Hatch)

Blakesville Creamery

By Joe Kastner- Minneapolis Monger

I love Wisconsin cheese. Maybe I’m biased because I grew up there, but I think my home state has some of the best cheeses out there. When most people think of a classic Wisconsin cheese, they think of a big sharp Cheddar, or some fresh squeaky curds, or even Butterkäse or Brick or other dairy co-op favorites, but not so much soft-rinded goat’s cheeses. But that’s just what we’re focusing on this week, some amazing farmstead goat’s cheeses made in classic French styles right off the western shore of Lake Michigan. 

Blakesville Creamery is a great example of passionate people bringing an idea to life in the face of challenging odds. In 2012, the land where the creamery currently sits- just north of Port Washington, WI, a suburb of Milwaukee- was a dairy farm, but with 300 cows. The farmer was looking to sell and retire, but didn’t want to see his land bought by a corporation and turned into condos or a shopping center. He approached his neighbor, Lynde Uihlein, with an offer to buy his farm and conglomerate it with her own. Lynde, who was involved with land preservation and restoration in the area, accepted the offer and took over the dairy, with the goal of switching the entire herd to goats and then making cheese with their milk. At the time this must have seemed like a massively daunting task, but SPOILER ALERT, she made it work!

After 8 years of selling cows to buy goats, changing the farm to fit the new herd, and building cheese-making facilities, Lynde and her team were finally ready to “curd” it up. She brought on veteran cheesemaker Veronica Pedraza to develop the recipes and oversee the production. Then in early 2020, just as the cheeses were getting ready to roll out, COVID happened. Not only did this push back the opening of the creamery due to licensing issues, it also took away a large portion of planned sales to restaurants and other vendors that were struggling at the time. Despite these hurdles, Blakesville released their first cheeses in July 2020 and they’ve been some of our more popular soft cheeses at the shop. If this teaches you anything about cheese people, it’s that we’re willing to wait for a good thing. 

At France 44, we sell most of the selections that Blakesville has developed in their short time. Four of them are soft-ripened, smaller format options in easy-to-manage 5 oz. packages, perfect for  Lake Effect is the cheese that we’ve carried most frequently. It’s a bloomy-rind cheese that’s ripened with the same molds you’ll find on most Camemberts, giving it that classic mushroomy, earthy flavor. The Lake Breeze, on the other hand, is ripened with Geotrichum cultures and B linens, commonly found on washed-rind cheeses. Though the Breeze isn’t washed itself, it has a bit of the funk associated with those types of cheese. Afterglow, my personal favorite of the bunch, is actually a washed-rind style, bathed in New Glarus Wisconsin Belgian Red, an ale made from cherries from Door County. Cheese washed in beer with Door County cherries. If that just doesn’t scream Wisconsin, I don’t know what does. 

We also carry their ash-lined creation, Linedeline. Layering cheese with vegetable ash is an old practice used to protect the milk from bugs between milking sessions, particularly with goats because their yield is less. But it also just looks really cool on a cheeseboard. This cheese is nice and firm and sliceable while young, but as it ages it just becomes creamy and spreadable and even more decadent. The hard cheese option from Blakesville is called St. Germain, a very firm tomme-style with a wild rind with lots of cool growth. This cheese smells woodsy and piney, and has a lingering herbaceousness that keeps me snacking on it.  

Farmstead cheeses like these are awesome to see, especially such newer, up-and-coming operations like Blakesville. The art and science of creating cheese with milk from your own herd of animals is a beautifully sustainable way to honor the land that we call our home, while providing a crucial service to your community and neighbors like us. By buying this cheese, you’re helping support small, sustainable farming and cheese-making, while also enjoying some of the best that Wisconsin has to offer! Cheers!