Go find some Bent River or Good Thunder from Alemar Cheese Co - was first served these in a fancy schmnacy NYC cheese bar despite them being made in my backyard.
And +1 for Cowgirl, Rogue, and Vermont Creamery being in the top rank.
Another great NW producer without much buzz yet is Cascade Creamery in Trout Lake WA. Beautiful country up there, near my spots for finding chanterelles and porcini.
So Brian Hook at Hookās Cheese has āhookedā me up with some great cheddar. Coming soon. Thanks for the heads up guys. Some 15yr. 10yr. A few other things.
Make another visit up here, Don. Iāll take you to St. Lawrence Market and Olympic cheese and you can fetch some 18, 20 or 23 year old
I love almost everything Rogue Creamery makes (other than the Caveman Blue) and am a sucker for Cowgirl Creamery Mt. Tam and Kunikās brie-like cheeseāwhen I can find it!
Iāll allow that Jasper Hills Harbison is a fine cheese. Iām also personally quite partial to Cypress Groveās Lambchopper.
Chris, I like buttermilk blue, but use it more in a mashed potatoes recipeāis great for that. But for pure blue, Rogue and Point Reyes are the questworthy cheeses.
Thereās a place (I think in Quebec) that makes something called Dragonās Breath blue. Thatās awesome but almost impossible to source.
Thereās some kind of magic going on at Jasper Hill. Landaff is probably my favorite cheese from anywhere. Even the Cabot Clothbound Cheddar aged at Jasper Hill is fantastic. Everything Iāve tried from there is great, but my favorite so far is the Landaff.
I agree that thereās no clear ābestā. There are so many great cheese from this country, even for my very specific tastes (nothing even moderately funky). If I liked all cheese, I imagine the choices would be almost innumerable.