Unicorn Cheeses / Loop de Loop Wine Tasting / Raclette Night

Like the holiday season, there are certain cheeses that only grace us with their presence for a short and specific period of time. Every year, we look forward to the arrival of these special wheels, and revel in their joy while available.

Cheeses can be seasonal for many reasons. In the case of hard cheeses, though they are made in the spring or summer, they reach their peak ripeness in the winter months, with some taking an extra year of aging before release. Soft cheeses made in the fall or winter benefit from the rich flavor of winter milk. As animals transition into the hibernation of winter months, their milk yield is lower but much richer, bursting with more concentrated flavors and robust quality from hay feeding instead of open grazing. These unicorn cheeses, often spoken of but rarely seen, are the perfect choice to add a little richness to any upcoming special occasions.

Uplands Cheese Co. is a true farmstead production, producing only two cheeses, one for each season of production. Their flagship Pleasant Ridge Reserve is based on French Beaufort and, like its predecessor, is only produced in the summer while cows graze on fresh grass. Following in Beaufort’s footsteps again, cheesemaker Andy Hatch transitions production to the Rush Creek Reserve as the weather changes, producing a lush creamy cheese modeled after the same region’s Vacherin Mont D’Or. Making use of the lush fall and winter milk, Rush Creek Reserve’s is wrapped in spruce bark and washed during its two months ripening period, producing a rich and unctuous cheese that is easily the centerpiece of any cheeseboard.

Released every winter, Black Betty is a collaboration between L’Amuse in Amsterdam and their importer Essex Street Cheese in New York. In addition to several other cheeses from all over Europe, Essex Street brings in L’Amuse Brabander, a goat milk Gouda aged approximately 6 months, producing a tangy, creamy cheese. Once these wheels reach Essex St, affineur Betty Koster hand selects wheels to be aged even further, an additional 6-9 months, bringing out notes of butterscotch, dried fruit and candied nuts. To distinguish this cheese while it ages in their cellars, the wheels are coated with a bold black wax and named after their caregiver.

This award-winning beloved Oregon Cheese is making a very short re-appearance in the market and Cheese Bar is one of the lucky few to have it in stock.If you haven’t had this cheese before, Lorelei is a semi-soft small format goat cheese washed in Deschutes Black Butte Porter. Nutty and tangy, creamy and dense this cheese was a constant favorite. As Briar Rose moved into making cows’ milk cheeses, Lorelei became unavailable, but has still been sought after in the same way its namesake, a German river siren, lured sailors to its waters.

Every Wednesday until the tulips come up in the spring, we will be doing traditional Raclette service. Starting at 5:30 and going until the cheese is gone! We cut a quarter wheel of raclette for service every event, so get in early because it could go quick!

Roasted Potatoes, Ham, Cornichons and House Mustard all topped with ooey, gooey Raclette