Cigars, Cheese, and other things: The taste of aged goods

[OllyBond]

So I've come to the realization that I just really enjoy the taste of age. I think all of us here can agree that we enjoy the taste of aged tobacco. This is a thread to share about cheese and other things we enjoy that have the taste of age. I'm smoking a cigar as I write this, but my real inspiration for this thread was my visit to a cheese shop in Salem, MA.  As I was excitingly trying different cheeses, my wife and friends looked at me like I was a mad man. They wondered how I could enjoy something with such a funky smell. It was then that I realized that the average person seams to be turned off by the taste of age.  I personally love a pungent, funky tasting cigar, and I love a pungent funky tasting cheese. I'm wondering if there is a connection between cigar smokers and the taste of other aged goods. Do you enjoy a good funky cheese? What other things besides cigars do you enjoy that have the taste of age?

 

[SMQQKIN]

Steak, bourbon, & wine - Haven't aquired a taste for aged cheeses that are pungent & strong.

[BlackFriar]

I was lucky enough to have a bottle of 2006 vintage Salon champagne last summer at my relative's house in France.  Needless to say I am forever ruined from having Champagne.

[El Hoze]

Wine, cigars, and booze go without saying. There is a cheddar you can find here in the US with a little effort made my Hook’s in Wisconsin that is aged 15 and 20 years that is off the hook good, it is also not inexpensive. 

We’re big on aged balsamic vinegar in our house as we spend time in Modena in Northern Italy that is the mecca for balsamic vinegar and always come home stocked up. 

[cigcars]

   I've been a cheese lover all my life - real cheese, not processed American cheese or Cheese Whiz, melted Nacho cheese, or anything like that. Cheddar is among my very fav's, particularly aged Wisconsin cheddar, and Extra Sharp White Cheddar from Cracker Barrel. I also LOVE  Jarlesburg cheese, a lot more expensive so I get it sparingly.  Aged Romano and Parmesan are my next favorites. I've never been willing to try Limburger. Despite people telling me how good it is, I just can't see me putting anything in my mouth that smells like THAT!!!

[Sutton]

Double smoked cheddar is fantastic period. I like it with my scotch & cigar nights with the boys.

Anytime anyone talks about aged cheese it reminds me of the kids movie “box trolls”

[OllyBond]

49 minutes ago, El Hoze said:

Wine, cigars, and booze go without saying. There is a cheddar you can find here in the US with a little effort made my Hook’s in Wisconsin that is aged 15 and 20 years that is off the hook good, it is also not inexpensive. 

We’re big on aged balsamic vinegar in our house as we spend time in Modena in Northern Italy that is the mecca for balsamic vinegar and always come home stocked up. 

Thats interesting about the vinegar, that might have to be my next aged endeavor.

[OllyBond]

21 minutes ago, cigcars said:

   I've been a cheese lover all my life - real cheese, not processed American cheese or Cheese Whiz, melted Nacho cheese, or anything like that. Cheddar is among my very fav's, particularly aged Wisconsin cheddar, and Extra Sharp White Cheddar from Cracker Barrel. I also LOVE  Jarlesburg cheese, a lot more expensive so I get it sparingly.  Aged Romano and Parmesan are my next favorites. I've never been willing to try Limburger. Despite people telling me how good it is, I just can't see me putting anything in my mouth that smells like THAT!!!

I like the aged cheddar, but I like a nice funky double or triple cream soft ripened cheese. Never really did limburger myself, but the cheese I like definitely has a funky smell.

[Lotusguy]

If you think Limburger is extreme, you haven’t smelled a REAL funky cheese

Lots of those around and as a general rule, the worse the smell, the better the taste.

I will throw stinky tofu (fermented tofu) in the mix on aged things I enjoy.

[Kitchen]

I love funky aged cheese.  I live not even a five minute walk from two supreme cheese shops, and that initial smell when you walk in is heaven. 

Personally, I have to go with an intense aged blue cheese as my first choice, like Rochefort or Valdeon.  Followed by a nicely aged Gouda or Gruyère. 

I was in France recently and dived right into the Camembert, Fiance Des Pyrenees and Epoisses de Bourgogne, which were amazing.  I'm afraid I'll just never be able to enjoy any brie I can get here ever again after tasting those. 

As for the good old American and English cheddar so available in the USA, I just don't see the point.  Even with an aged version, I always feel like the maker was playing it safe. 

Bring on the funk!

[OllyBond]

 

58 minutes ago, JoeKitchen said:

I love funky aged cheese.  I live not even a five minute walk from two supreme cheese shops, and that initial smell when you walk in is heaven. 

Personally, I have to go with an intense aged blue cheese as my first choice, like Rochefort or Valdeon.  Followed by a nicely aged Gouda or Gruyère. 

I was in France recently and dived right into the Camembert, Fiance Des Pyrenees and Epoisses de Bourgogne, which were amazing.  I'm afraid I'll just never be able to enjoy any brie I can get here ever again after tasting those. 

As for the good old American and English cheddar so available in the USA, I just don't see the point.  Even with an aged version, I always feel like the maker was playing it safe. 

Bring on the funk!

I think you can get Epoisses de Bourgogne at whole foods. Not sure if you have one by you. I tried a cheese called fox glove, its a double creme from indiana. Very good brie like cheese.

[Kitchen]

51 minutes ago, OllyBond said:

 

I think you can get Epoisses de Bourgogne at whole foods. Not sure if you have one by you. I tried a cheese called fox glove, its a double creme from indiana. Very good brie like cheese.

The problem is much of the flavor in some (foreign) cheeses comes from them not being pasteurized, which is against the law to sell here in the USA.  For certain cheeses it does not matter so much, but for brie it is an important factor in how flavor develops. 

[cigcars]

4 hours ago, Lotusguy said:

If you think Limburger is extreme, you haven’t smelled a REAL funky cheese

Lots of those around and as a general rule, the worse the smell, the better the taste.

I will throw stinky tofu (fermented tofu) in the mix on aged things I enjoy.

   When I was working for a short time in our Mall video games room (yeah - THAT long ago!) our break room was about the size of a closet - our bathroom and everything was in there. So you could only fit three of us, max, inside. So we're not talking about a whole lot of ventilation room in there. One day I brought a few pizza slices in with me for my break, and I'd buried it in aged Romano cheese...nice and funky!  When two of my crew came inside that small, small break room they immediately waved their hands back and forth in front of their nose and yelled out, "WHAT did you throw away in that garbage can!!!"  I didn't answer and let them think that...I didn't want to tell them that was my food! 

[ayepatz]

Brie de Meaux. Wife kryptonite.

[OllyBond]

3 hours ago, JoeKitchen said:

The problem is much of the flavor in some (foreign) cheeses comes from them not being pasteurized, which is against the law to sell here in the USA.  For certain cheeses it does not matter so much, but for brie it is an important factor in how flavor develops. 

I see, well maybe my next trip will have to be to france then. 

[Kitchen]

Just now, OllyBond said:

I see, well maybe my next trip will have to be to france then. 

We were in Beaune last month, and it was amazing.  There is literally a winery on every corner.  Most you can walk in for wine tastings, the better ones you need to make reservations a couple months in advance.  Joseph Drouhin is certainly one to make a reservation for; wine is very good and unique. 

But anyway, if you love cheese, Alan Hess in Beaune is an amazing shop to stop check out.  Lots of funky cheese and meats, and other stuff. 

[Hookmaker]

Join me in Sardinia this summer fellow BOTL’s - time to taste the last cheese in the portfolio: the fabled Casu Marzu - the cheese that separates the steers from the queers! 

[SigmundChurchill]

I love just about any cheese, but one of my favorite aged cheese is aged Gouda.  There is nothing really funky about it, but with age, bits of the Gouda crystallize or something.  I like the texture of the soft and crunchy together.

[garbandz]

try some 50 year old Vintage Port with your funky cheese.

or older if you can find it.

marriage made in heaven............

[ayepatz]

12 minutes ago, garbandz said:

try some 50 year old Vintage Port with your funky cheese.

or older if you can find it.

marriage made in heaven............

For hard cheeses, I totally agree.

For soft cheeses, a good white burgundy with a bit of age.

[PrairieSmoke]

I like a funky cheese. Agree that it’s harder to get in the states. The soft ripened cheeses in France absolutely dwarf the stuff we get in the states, flavor-wise.


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[JZBdano]

4 hours ago, JoeKitchen said:

The problem is much of the flavor in some (foreign) cheeses comes from them not being pasteurized, which is against the law to sell here in the USA.  For certain cheeses it does not matter so much, but for brie it is an important factor in how flavor develops. 

Selling raw milk to a consumer is against the law in most states but most artisan cheese makers use unpasteurized milk for there cheeses.  Cheese made from raw milk is legal to sell after it has been aged 60 days or more.  There are a lot of regional influences that make those old world cheeses what they are. 

Aged Cheddar and Gouda are my favorite cheeses.  I like my cigars aged and I've smoked some great pipe tobacco that was 30+ years old.  My wife is aging exceptionally well.

[Bill Hayes]

Delice de bourgogne and a good botrytis riesling. Double funk! Love it.