The Kerrygold Family of Cheeses – Part One – Dubliner

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My apologies to the Irish in each of you that this review didn’t fall on St. Paddy’s Day…no doubt I was napping or hanging out with The Lady – my two most favorite pastimes behind sampling cheese… and chasing my new Beemster Cheese mice (I’ve started leaving those cute little blue mice on The Lady’s pillow while she’s at work…you should see her smile when she spots them. She says it reminds her of the times the legendary Mike Tyson left gophers on the front doormat, minus the blood and guts, of course).  If truth be told, hanging with The Lady is Numero Uno on my “to do” list cause it’s mandated by The Brain as my top priority. Confession time; I would do it anyway…The Lady gives me cheese and hugs and kisses. I also get to sit on her lap and she scratches my ears whenever I ask…except 2am…that’s when she throws me off the bed…

Before I begin my first (of several Kerrygood cheeses and butters) reviews of the sublime Kerrygold Dubliner, here’s a bit of trivia for you: More than ten per cent of the US humankind population (and quite a few Setters, as well) claims to be of Irish descent – about 36 million humankinds. And that figure is about four times the entire population of Ireland. How can that be, you wonder? Don’t ask me: I got nothing…

Let me begin by bringing in the concept of terroir once more. With the Kerrygold cheeses and butters, terroir definitely plays a big part. Every Kerrygold cow, yep every single one of them, roams free in the fresh Irish mist and graze in pastures lush with tender grass. Another bit of trivia, Ireland boasts one of the longest grass seasons in the world which means the cows are out and about more than cows that produce milk for other regional cheeses. The lush green grass, along with the gentle environment produces a milk rich in beta carotene, an organic compound important to humankinds’ health that literally gives Kerrygold butter and cheeses their golden color. So for those de-bunkers of terroir, all I have to say is, you must be circling over Shannon.

Ireland may be close to England; but the Irish cheeses I have sampled bear no resemblance whatsoever to those English clunkers called Caerphilly and Hard Goat Cheddar. The odds are they exist somewhere in a peat bog but you won’t find them in the pot of gold I like to call Kerrygold.

Kerrygold makes several cheeses and butters that The Lady sells at her Kiosk and Cheese Island. I reviewed the Kerrygold Blue in an earlier post and other than to add how delish it is, I’ll let you check out my review.

Back in the day, before The Lady became a Cheese Steward, she, The Man and I lived near beautiful, downtown Burbank, and we often enjoyed Dubliner Cheese from Kerrygold. When she brought it home last week, it brought back lots of memories including when I still had all my body parts. At the time I didn’t understand “the trade-off” The Brain mentioned when he told me I had been promoted into the much-coveted Mike Tyson observation post. The Brain told me the good news was that The Lady will “love you unconditionally”; the bad news was “she’s gonna chop off your balls”…preferring to believe the food dish is always half-full, I suppose the trade-off evened out…digression seems to catch my fancy far too off…back on track…right, Kerrygold Dubliner…

The Lady has always been a foodie and The Man claims part of his initial attraction to her was her culinary talents. (There were other reasons, but that might be crossing a line…) Let’s just stay with food. The Lady loves to cook and The Man loves to eat…you do the math.

Dubliner is a mature cheese that has a bit of a bite, similar to a good Parmigiano-Reggiano…probably just pissed off the Italians with that comment…it also has a hint of sweetness and nuts. It’s just a bit on the crumbly side. It is golden white in color, remember Kerrygold adds no color to their cheeses, except Leicester which I will discuss later, all the color in Kerrygold cheeses comes from nature…aka that terroir thingie.

Once The Lady crumbled Dubliner on top of a baked potato and The Man was pleased with the outcome.

I give Dubliner 4 out of 4 Paws (cause that’s all I’ve got).

Serving Suggestions: Dubliner makes a Grilled Cheese Sandwich taste like manna from Ireland; add a slice to a plate of bangers and mash; melt it on a steak. The Lady used to add it to her biscuit recipe back in the day before The Diet…now those were the good ole days…when calorie caution was thrown to the wind. Now it’s “little bites; little bites”…sheesh, this feline foodie needs more than “little bites” to maintain the rigors of my napping and observation duties…

Of course, you can never go wrong just having Dubliner on a 34 Degree Sesame Crispbread Cracker.

Wine pairings: Cabernet or an oaky Chardonnay

Beer Pairings: Why, a pint of Guinness, of course…

Source: Free-range Cows

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