I saw it at $48 a wheel tonight. Love the cheese, but an easy pass
Picked up a wheel at Quality Meats yesterday in Chicago priced at the MSRP $39 per pound. Brought it to MI and we had it last night. The sell by date was January and the disk was soft so a few min in the oven to warm it up was all it needed. Showed great and was r
Easily finished by a bunch of new fans.
1 Like
I gotta say, when RCR is on, it is so on. We had a large mixed group for Thanksgiving and six artisanal cheeses and the RCR was a knockout consensus favorite even among the newbies to Epoisses. It got devoured and praised by even a few who thought they did not like smelly cheeses. This particular wheel was so full of delicate unami mushroom complexity as to be irresistible. So I take back a bit of my criticism. I am once again an unabashed fan. We had so many good things to eat tonight but the RCR stood out.
Deleted.
We put RCR up against Harbison and again the Harbison was the favorite. The Rush Creek was meatier, but the Harbison was more complex, and the texture is better. RCR always seems a bit waxy. I know the common answer is to warm it in the oven, but the Harbison is perfect at room temperature, and on TG there wasn’t an oven to use at a very low temp to warm the RCR. Both were very good though. Harbison is more widely available which seems to diminish its allure some, and of course it’s much cheaper. Even found some at TJ’s for like $12 each last year.
This happens way more often than it should, year after year, with RCR and Harbison and even with Kunik and a few others. We can’t stand that ammonia smell (I’ve commented on it here before), and it seems not to be related to any sell-by date. We’ve had cheeses that were impacted every year, along with good wheels. Some stores seem to have worse problems than others, not sure why. I’ve heard theories that it has to do with how long a wheel has been in packaging, but I can’t make that work in all cases logically. It’s very sad when it happens, and very frustrating since I can’t generally smell it through the packaging. DiBrunos will now open wheels for us, since we’ve discussed this problem with them, before we take anything home. Then we can vacuum seal again if it’s good and we don’t want it right away.
Had a great RCR alongside an equally great in an entirely different way Rogue River Blue 2 weeks ago.
An Arethusa Blue was very good but outclassed by its company.
Just got into our final mini-wheel tonight. Very fine, love the texture, and this was on the herbaceous end of the spectrum.
Even the ten year-old loved RCR.
Our wheel was very mild compared to previous years and while enjoyable, I prefer the bacon and funk it can bring.
I know this thread is about RCR, but what is the perfect wine match for Harbison? We have one in the cheese drawer that needs to be eaten.
Don’t they recommend a barrel aged wine? 
I had one with “sell by 12/12” purchased on 12-23, sampled 12-24, which was inedible with ammonia. Didn’t check the date before leaving the shop. I’m a regular there, and am wondering what they’ll say when I tell them. I feel like a refund is warranted selling it that far past.
I’ve had ammonia problems with RCR twice now out of maybe eight wheels. I’ve only had it once in many years of buying Harbison, and that was well past the sell by date. Not familiar with Kunik. I agree that ammonia ruins it for me. The slightest touch I can deal with, maybe, but anything more and I cannot. Frankly, I know there are many RCR fans here, and I like quite a bit it when it’s on, but for me Harbison is more consistent.
You should check out Kunik. It’s made by Nettle Meadow Farms in NY from 75% goat and 25% Jersey cow cream and is, in my opinion, a strong contender for best cheese made in the USA.
1 Like
This is the crux of the matter for me. I’ve experienced a ~33% inedible ammonia rate with RCR.
Yet I’ve had at least 20x the number of Harbison’s as compared to RCR and not once have I had a bad wheel.
I’ve had them head to head multiple times. Frankly, I don’t think there is a qualitative difference that merits the higher price and chance of failure. Not to mention that I can get Harbison year round.
1 Like
Thanks Sarah! Will look into it.
I agree they are comparable in quality. I also saw this year that they have started selling mini wheels of Harbison, about half size compared to the normal. I haven’t tried them yet so not sure if the quality is the same, but it might be good for situations where I don’t need the entire wheel. I would worry what that smaller size does to the paste to rind ratio, but I was intrigued.
I’ve only had one mini-Harbison so not enough of a data set to render judgement. But I will say my wife laughed and said why bother depriving ourselves.
Huh, I didn’t realize Kunik had cow’s milk in it. Thank you!
Beautiful cheese, I was introduced to it by the cheese store which used to be in Chelsea Market that specilized in US cheeses.
Does anyone have a favorite source for Kunik with reasonable shipping costs? 2lbs shipped directly from Nettle Meadow Farms is $34 to California, and my local cheese mongers are not on their list of distributors.