I’m a blue cheese fiend. When it comes to cheese, I say, “Bring on the mold!” Well today, my cheese monger did not disappoint. I asked for something “creamy and mild… something between a Gorgonzola and Roquefort” and she said, “St. Agur” without hesitation.

Sure enough, St. Agur is one delightful blue cheese. It hails from the Auvergne region of France, the village of Monts du Velay. It’s a cow’s milk cheese and fairly young, which yields a nice, smooth and mellow flavor, not as bold as an in-your-face Gorgonzola. I noticed just a hint of pepper but virtually no sourness… it makes a killer dessert cheese. And the texture is spot on… creamy, but not too soft, it just melts in your mouth. It has such a great balance of texture and flavor, I think even those who aren’t as nuts about cheese as I am would love this one.

After yesterday’s unfortunate cheese experience I decided to play it safe today, with an old stand-by goat’s cheese, bucheron.

Ah, bucheron, you are almost chevre! It’s a typical goat offering, nothing offensive whatsoever, just pure goaty goodness. It’s actually a little bit more chalky than a chevre. And it’s round! It comes in logs, and how can you not like that? So you get a nice little round of goat cheese goodness.

I actually think the flavor is a little stronger than chevre, but not in a bad way. It has a nice, citrus-like tang in the aftertaste which does remind me a bit of the precious Humboldt Fog which is always a good thing.

Yes, after the “cheese whose name shall not be spoken” this was a very nice retreat into the familiar.

Oh, my. It was bound to happen… on Halloween, nonetheless. I’ve met a cheese I do not like. There. I said it.
This was an unfortunate one… it was recommended by someone who shall remain nameless. When I remarked that Humboldt Fog was a personal favorite, they suggested I try this one. I’ve decided they don’t like me.
Le Lingot du Quercy would be a raw goat’s milk cheese, but because it is younger than the 60 day aging requirement imposed by the FDA, it’s gotta be pasteurized. Damn them! Maybe. Perhaps, just perhaps, the pasteurization process is so offensive to this cheese that it injects the distinct taste of… hmmm…. ass? which so offends me.

The cheese does resemble an ingot. Whoo. That’s about as close to gold as it gets. It’s a pungent, tangy cheese with a flavor that might have reminded me of Camembert were it not for the overpowering tones of, well, ass. It’s a runny cheese, nearly liquid, in fact, you could almost eat it with a spoon. Yum! Spoonfuls of ass!

Okay, I’m just going to stop now. I did not like this cheese.

It’s time once again for a raw ewe’s milk cheese! Today’s offering comes from a UK dairy, Neal’s Yard and the selection is their Spenwood.

This is a hard, semi-dry cheese, made from unpasteurized ewe’s milk. The folks at Neal’s describe it as a “nutty, sweet cheese with a translucent appearance and a smooth texture.” I’d agree, for the most part. It does have a hint on a nutty taste to it, but I wouldn’t quite call it smooth… it’s harder, like a Parmigiano-Reggiano, but not as crumbly. It does have a pretty good “melt in your mouth” factor to it, probably as a result of a higher fat content. The flavor is very nice, mild, but with just an ever-so-tiny nod to cheddar that it makes a fine snackin’ cheese. Jolly good!