Coppersea Distillery Whiskey
Pairing artisan hooch with cheese

STORY BY MAX MCCALMAN PHOTOS BY MO KROCHMAL

COPPERSEA DISTILLERY IS LOCATED IN ULSTER COUNTY, N.Y., in a part of the state that had been teaming with similar enterprises before Prohibition. A road in front of the distillery used to transport smuggled alcohol, most of it from Canada and headed to New York City. This same road had served the local distillers and other Ulster industries before Prohibition.

The region never fully recovered from that constitutional hiccup. Fortunately, there are a few family farms remaining. Coppersea is helping sustain what remains with a goal of revitalizing the farming industry. To think what this region looked like before Prohibition is difficult to imagine — stills at most farmhouses, their residents sipping whiskey, perhaps with a little cheese on the side. One remnant from that time is an Episcopalian monastery, Holy Cross, with the Hudson River behind it. The main building of the monastery is on the National Register of Historic Places, built during the earliest years of the 20th century, a boom time for farming in the county. Holy Cross may have been inspired by the Benedictine style, but it is Episcopalian — evidence of wine-and-spirit production is absent.

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The Cheese Plate in Spring
Making the most of the season’s bounty

BY MAX MCCALMAN

There was a time when the cheese selections available in spring offered little to choose from or less than ideal quality. The dearth of top-quality cheeses at this time of year could be attributed to simple seasonality.

Northern-hemisphere dairy animals would be well into their lactation cycles so excellent milk would be available for cheese making. Although a few fresh cheeses were made, and made quickly available, the cheeses requiring a little aging simply would not be ready. A raw-milk cheese crafted in February wouldn’t be available until April at the earliest, due to the 60-day minimum aging requirements for raw-milk cheeses. Historically, February is more closely associated with birthing at dairy farms than with cheesemaking.

That’s not to say cheesemaking grinds to a snail’s space in February, only that with less diversity in the pasture, the milk for cheesemaking might be a bit less flavorful, just might be. Fortunately, today many fine cheeses, both raw and pasteurized, are available in spring.

For aged cheeses this is less of a problem: A cheese requiring six or more months aging usually has a long peak-ripeness phase, so a cheese could be produced in September or May, and either would likely be in great form. The vegetation would be relatively lush both months.

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A Near-Perfect Food, Part 2
As if flavor weren’t enough,
cheese is good for you

BY MAX MCCALMAN

Max McCalman is the author of three books on cheese, the most recent being Mastering Cheese, Lessons for Connoisseurship from a Maître Fromager, and dean of curriculum for www.artisanalcheese.com. At 57 years old and 150 pounds, he is a picture of health and vitality — and he eats cheese every chance he gets.
I believe one reason we love cheese is because cheese loves us. Recognition that it’s good for us contributes to our growing appreciation of this wonderful food. We subconsciously recognize cheese as a primordial and near-complete form of sustenance, derived from our first food — milk. Since milk is the only food necessary during the critically important first weeks and months of our lives — when we’re growing faster and learning more than at any other stage of life — it must be good for us. It’s difficult to imagine how it could not be. The composition of the nutrients — the proteins, amino acids, vitamins, minerals, beneficial fats and fatty acids — vary from cheese to cheese. No two cheeses are created equal, which is one reason why it’s a good idea to eat a variety of cheeses.

Unfortunately, many people still view the consumption of cheese as an indulgence. Even within the cheese industry itself, I often hear comments suggesting cheese cannot be all that good for you or you should limit the amount you eat. The negative pronouncements most often center on a potential for weight gain and clogged arteries. Fortunately, compelling evidence contradicts those notions.

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A Near-Perfect Food
As if flavor weren’t enough,
cheese is good for you

BY MAX MCCALMAN

Max McCalman is the author of three books on cheese, the most recent being Mastering Cheese, Lessons for Connoisseurship from a Maître Fromager, and dean of curriculum for www.artisanalcheese.com. At 57 years old and 150 pounds, he is a picture of health and vitality — and he eats cheese every chance he gets.

Today, mainstream media always seems to be publishing articles recommending various foods for conquering health problems, and I always hope to find cheese on those lists of beneficial foods. Why? Because I believe cheese has so many healthful qualities that it’s one of the best foods to eat and enjoy every day. Instead, to my keen disappointment, cheese turns up on lists of foods to avoid! To make matters worse, occasionally those same references lump entire food categories, such as dairy products, together as if all dairy products were somehow poisonous. Regardless of the bad rap cheese suffers at the hands of misinformed media, consumption is growing and connoisseurship is on the rise.

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The accompaniments you keep
Matching cheese and condiments is a matter of personal taste

BY MAX MCCALMAN

At an American Cheese Society conference many years ago, cheesemakers were encouraged to develop a cheese a chef would incorporate into a recipe, the idea being that the recipe would be enhanced by including this one particular cheese. Although I’ve cooked with cheese often and appreciate how it can add a special element — I thought the focus should be directed on crafting a cheese that would stand out on its own. The question I asked at the time was — why not make a cheese that can stand up on its own four legs? A couple of years later Thomas Keller’s The French Laundry Cookbook featured the “composed” cheese course.

Not exactly cooking with the cheese, yet the cheese was not left on its own. At the time, I found these two trends — developing cheeses strictly for cooking and mixing fine cheeses with other ingredients to create “cheese courses” — a little disappointing.

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The Quintessential Cheese Plate
Assembling a nonpareil tasting of cheeses

BY MAX MCCALMAN

Of the several thousand plates of cheeses I’ve designed, I’m fairly certain I haven’t composed the same grouping of cheeses more than once — except possibly for different customers on the same day. But I do apply some fundamental “rules” when setting them together. I often see cheese “flights” designed to employ a thematic consideration, perhaps the provenances of the cheeses, such as a local plate, an Italian selection, an Iberian collection, etc. Some are species-specific, such as all goat cheeses. Other plates are based on styles, such as all washed-rind or all blue cheeses. One of my favorites is to represent several styles of cheese: one fresh, one leaf-wrapped, one bloomy rind, one pressed, etc.

A popular trend in restaurants is to design cheese and wine or beer flights. The creative element of pairing cheeses with specific beverages allows the fromager to apply his or her knowledge, experiment with the pairings and then describe the relationships to the guests. One cheese flight design we often employ at the Artisanal Cheese Center in New York City offers representations of the historical developments in the evolution of cheese.

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