But were any snuggies (slankets?) involved?
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Just back from a trip over the pond, to the US. Made a point of eating and trying ‘lokal’ cheeses. Had some very nice ones, none not good. Good cheese is made.
But must say, I was able to avoid the thing also described above. 
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I’ve had a pepper-crusted burger topped with blue that I still think of fondly to this day.
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The missus and I still sing that. 
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Their Raspberry Tort is even better.
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At least you got the Philly part!
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Ugh, not for me.
Just because it melts uniformly does not mean it tastes better.
Then again I’ve come to realize that cheese ruins a truly excellent burger and should only be used to cover up a mediocre patty.
Double then again, maybe I’m just bitter that I can no longer eat ground beef without feeling ill afterward. It’s odd and disappointing.
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Did you manage to score some Venezuelan Beaver Cheese?
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So far the opportunity has not presented itself but Casu marzu might suffice.
Gotta give that its fondue.
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Sartori’s BellaVitano is incredible. So glad to see they’re expanding their line, doubly so since it suggests people are finding out what’s up and buying more of it.
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“Bandaged Cheddar?”
From the outside, this cheese looks like the earthen cave that it came from, with the stony-gray and brown, dusty bandages stiff and cracked on the outside, frosted with white molds, and a musty, mildewy aroma. Peeling it back (with a heavy scattering of dust in the process) reveals the ivory paste, dense, smooth and dry, on this wedge fractured and angled like a cracked rock face, lightly scattered with tyrosine crystals. handling the cheese tends to break it into long horizontal shards, perfectly sized for nibbling on. The flavor of the Bandaged Cheddar is extremely rich and complex — Madame Fromage describes the taste, aptly, as “like walking through a damp forest in October” — with a deep woodsy, gamey quality and a complex swirl of notes including caramel, citrus,toasted nuts, smoked meats, and earthy, mildewy, wet hay notes near the rind.
This rustic, stony wheel is the Bandaged Cheddar,... | CHEESE NOTES
Sounds pretty sexy.
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Note the separate Smoked Gouda category.
Agree with aging. Cutting aged hard cheese, however, might rob you of the crystal experience.
Well, in since aged Gouda is only semi-hard, and thus the crystals very large, it wouldn’t with some brands, I guess
Flavoured cheese can be interesting, but you are right about Gouda, of course. You just don’t.
But i would skip Gouda for any Scamorza affuminata, anyway.
“Illegal? Then there is a market for it.”
The Welsh Stiltonista probably also cornered that market, delivering from the Socialist Republic of Wales even to Minnesota!
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I gotta get my dad to pick up some cheese from these folks. He doesn’t live all that far away, and if he goes to Appleton, he has to drive through Antigo anyway.
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Wondered where you’d disappeared off to. In addition to the cheese hope your visit was a good one.
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Seriously, they are worth the detour. Also, check out your local Whole Foods, because they carry about half of these cheesemakers.
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Class: Surface (Mold) Ripened Goat’s Milk Cheeses Cypress Grove, Cypress Grove, Arcata, CA, Fresh Goat Cheese
Awwww yeah! Cypress Grove are the only ones on the list I can vouch for. Once Humboldt Fog ripens enough to get a bit runny it is amazing.
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Surprise, I have a little know how when it comes to cheese 
Wisconsin has some of the best dairy colleges in the world. I know that is an odd turn of phrase.
The yellow color originally came from the bovines diet. These days reputable cheese makers use annatto. I have used dozens of varieties of milk, from store bought, farm bought, raw, and everything in between. The brightest color I could ever get was a mild yellow, similar to Irish cheddar.
The phrase “American cheese” annoys me as much as “freedom fries”. While there are limits to what you can legally sell–i.e. raw milk and the like–the united States has some of the best cheese in the world. Sit down with a Humboldt blue, Stilton, and Roquefort with a blindfold. Heck, Beechers vs. any wheel out of cheddar gorge. Drunken goat vs., I dunno, anything.
The only style we Americans don’t do as well is Swiss, with huge eyes. Propianic bacteria, which is what causes the eyes/holes, is a fiddly thing.
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