bigguyinpasadena

The above is an excelent list.
The only drawback is that real Epoisses is hard to find and expensive.There are imitators but a real epoisses will be around $25 for a small cheeese.
Reblechon-also a little hard to find in good shape.This is one of my all time fave's.I buy it in Montreal at Hormel since they swll a great lait cru version-the one we usually get in the US does not compare.

Djlawman great suggestions for a French cheese board.

BLI-Flyer

I'm partial to aged Gruyère, a harder cheese with a somewhat nutty flavor.

greggwiggins

I agree. When eating cheese, particularly if you're eating a variety of cheeses, you need some carbonation in your beverage to scrub and refresh your palate. You don't get that with most wines. That's why my choices with cheeses tend to be bubbly, whether it's wine or (my usual selection) an appropriate style of beer.

anonplz

Those are some of my faves. Also, epoisses (hard to describe - rich, I guess) and camembert (some people claim camembert smells like feet. But dog that I am, I like it anyway. ).

thelark

http://www.artisanalcheese.com/prodi...umber=PC-10595

bigguyinpasadena

Yes-that might be a true Epoisses-but you must examine the lable to see if it is the real thing-they are not showing a lable in the above link.
Sometimes,and this is pretty common,cheese makers will make a cheese in a certain style of a famous(and expensive cheese)such as Epoisses an a different locale-and then ship it to be aged and distributed from the location that is home to the more expensive cheese.Often these are very good,and I sold a lot of these-but always with the understanding that this was not the real deal.

Thank you for the link-nice resource for those who do not have a cheesemonger near them.

Romelle

http://www.bongardscheese.com/pi_retailshopping_fs.html

made right here in Minnesota, and I think it is excellent!

Romelle

Djlawman

Thanks.

The Epoisses from fromages.com costs 9 Euro (250 gram cheese). The Reblochon is great as well 9.69 Euros for a 500 gram 1/2 cheese.

(Of course, there is a 3 cheese minimum, and considerable shipping expenses to the US. But the product is shipped FedEx in a cooled box, and has always arrived in terrific shape for me -- after a couple of dozen orders.)

Landing Gear

I hope Steve Jenkins is a better writer than he is a speaker.

Last year I was at a wine and cheese tasting charity benefit at one of the Fairway stores here in New York City where he is an investor.

After railing against Société for their Roquefort he doesn't like (although it's sold in the store) he then delivered the pronoucement that Société, Perrier and Air France were all part of the same conglomerate.

I am sure this will come as a surprise to the French government if not the shareholders.

Landing Gear

I love every kind of formage bleu especially with a good red.

I a special fan, however, of Roquefort. I think it's great to sample the different kinds of real Roquefort, from the supermarket package from Société to the wheels of which my favorite is Vieux Berger. I have Swiss friends who swear by the Papillon but only the one in the black wrapper.

DJL, next time you're in my neck of the woods, let me know and we will make the rounds of Zabar's, Fairway and all the rest. I'll bring the Vytorin.

bigguyinpasadena

Last time I bought the Papilllion in the black wrapper(right before xmas)it was almost $40 a pound!Still a great cheese.
The declining dollar will make many cheese lovers blanch when they go to buy their fave's.Maked the US producers look like bargains!

At our chistmas eve dinner I served
Exporateaur
Brillat Saverin(also a triple cream-but very different in Charcter from Exploraterur)
a very nice raw milk reblachon
A great Tallagio-this is one of my favorites when you can get it at peak.
Graite Paille
Cabrales
Stilton
A nice slightly mature boucheron
A nice domestic Banon
A Neils Yard extra aged farmhouse chedder.

so that is ten,more than I really care to put out at one time-but my boss loves excess at Christmas

Our cheese guy in Las Vegas(where we held our dinner)Is really an Importer and will only sell many cheeses whole-so we always have a lot of cheese in the house and end up sharing it with the neighbors.

3timesalady

I'm not especially exotic in my cheese choices, but one that I like that no one has mentioned yet is Jarlsberg, which is a kind of a swiss cheese, but (imo) better. I also like edam.

I also like the orange powder that you use to make Kraft Macaroni & Cheese, so I may not be the best person to give advice regarding cheese parties... .

Green Dragon

I am far from an expert, and just beginning down this wonderful road of cheese exploration myself, but here are some of my discoveries:

The aforementioned Norwegian gjetost is wonderful. It tasted to me like a rich, thick peanut butter. I had a slice on the smorgasbord at EPCOT

When I was in Ireland I sampled a wonderful local cheese in County Clare made with seaweed, a creamy cheese with a very strong flavor. The seaweed was in veins within the cheese, and made it spicy.

I've gotten a cheese called Drunken Goat - not for the wimpy, very strong flavor. It is goat's cheese cured in port, and has veins of purple running through it - got it at my local Fresh Market (upscale grocery store)

Another I like is Stilton, with various fruit flavors in it, or port.

DTS

Some of my favs:

Tomme de Savoie
Fougerou
Brie
Emmentaler
Fresh goat cheese

Cupertino

I love Munster, the real Alsatian stuff, which in the analogy section of the ACT would be:

Munster (Alsace): Munster (America) :: Sharp Cheddar: American.

Also, Morbier, Mango/Ginger Stilton, Port-Salut, Banon, a sharp Cheddar, Parmigiano-Reggiano, and another shout out to Gjetost.

I usually have at least two or three of these in the fridge at any given time.

The West Point Market in Akron, OH has a great cheese seection. Plus ask for a cheese card, which when you buy $60 in the cheese dept. gives you 1/2 pound (used to be a pound) of free cheese. It doesn't have to be 1/2 lb. of the same, e.g., it can be 2 oz. of one, 3 oz. of another, 2 oz. of a third.