{"title":"American Artisan Cheese","description":"\u003cp\u003eAmerican artisan cheese stopped apologizing to Europe a while ago, and this lineup is the proof. Jasper Hill’s Alpha Tolman out of Greensboro, Vermont is an alpine-style wheel that holds its own against the Swiss originals. Cabot Clothbound — made in Vermont, aged in the Cellars at Jasper Hill — is the bandage-wrapped cheddar that put American clothbound back on the map. And Hook’s of Wisconsin ages cheddar up to fifteen years, until it’s crumbly, crystalline, and almost savory-sweet.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eOut west it gets inventive. Humboldt Fog, Cypress Grove’s ash-veined goat cheese from Humboldt County. Point Reyes Toma from the California coast. Shaft’s blue, aged right here in California, and Rogue Creamery’s Caveman Blue from Oregon. From Indiana, Capriole’s O’Banon — a little chèvre wrapped in bourbon-soaked chestnut leaves.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eIf you think you know American cheese, start with the clothbound cheddars and work west. It’s a different country than you remember.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eCut to order in Beverly Hills and shipped cold to 48 states.\u003c\/p\u003e","products":[{"product_id":"humboldt-fog","title":"Humboldt Fog","description":"\u003cp\u003eHumboldt Fog is a soft-ripened goat's milk cheese from Cypress Grove in Humboldt County, California, instantly recognizable by the thin ribbon of vegetable ash that runs right through the middle of the wheel. The ash line is a nod to the French Morbier, and it helps the cheese ripen evenly from the rind inward.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe paste does two things at once. Just under the bloomy white rind you get a glossy cream line that gets softer and more spoonable as the wheel matures, and toward the center the cheese stays brighter and a little chalky. On the palate it leads with that classic fresh goat lactic tang, lemony and clean, then opens into a soft mushroomy note from the rind and a cool, almost vegetal whisper from the ash. The finish is tidy and citrusy rather than funky.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThis is one of the cheeses that put American artisan goat cheese on the map, and it still earns the attention. Cut a wedge so every slice carries rind, cream line, and chalky core in one bite, that's where the whole cheese makes sense.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"World's Best Cheese West","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":45873158815913,"sku":"11552","price":40.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0667\/6027\/8185\/files\/HumboldtFog.jpg?v=1763224747"},{"product_id":"shafts-blue-cheese","title":"Shaft's Blue Cheese","description":"\u003cp\u003eShaft's Blue is a cow's milk blue from Cedar Ridge, California, the kind of American blue that earns its place next to the European classics. The paste is semi-soft, buttery, and shot through with veins of Penicillium roqueforti that the wheels are pierced to encourage, letting the mold breathe evenly all the way through.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe flavor opens buttery and clean, then the blue kicks in with a confident peppery bite that pulls back before turning sharp. Plenty of salt, a mushroomy cave-driven depth, and a long savory finish that lingers well past the swallow. It crumbles when you want it to, holds together when you want a slab, and stays creamy enough to spread on a piece of walnut bread.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThis is a blue for people who already love blue, the kind of wheel that holds its own next to a Stilton or a Roquefort while staying recognizably Californian, a little drier on the rind and a little fruitier in the paste.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"World's Best Cheese West","offers":[{"title":"Default","offer_id":45673219883177,"sku":"11737","price":40.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0667\/6027\/8185\/files\/shafts_blue.jpg?v=1744804027"},{"product_id":"cheddar-cabot-clothbound-lbs","title":"Cabot Clothbound Cheddar","description":"\u003cp\u003eCabot Clothbound Cheddar comes from Cabot Creamery in Vermont and is aged in the cellars at Jasper Hill Farm in Greensboro Bend. It's a pasteurized cow's milk cheese wrapped in real cloth bandages, the way cheddar was protected before wax and cryovac, with the cloth letting the wheel breathe through nine to fourteen months in the cellar.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe paste runs pale gold and crumbles under the knife rather than slicing clean. It has a dry, flaky break that gives away its age. Long cellar time pulls the milk into something deeper, with toasted hazelnut, browned butter, and a sweet caramel pull on the finish. There's a savory umami depth running underneath, the kind of nutty character that comes from clothbound aging done right.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eVermont has been making cheddar for about as long as America has been a colony, and Cabot Clothbound is what happens when a creamery commits to the old recipe. The cloth-bandage wrap, the long aging, the natural rind: this is what real cheddar tasted like before the wax-block era. The wheel rewards a long sit on the palate, and the finish holds well past the bite.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Gourmet Foods International","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":45731074965673,"sku":"13390","price":35.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0667\/6027\/8185\/files\/51uJKHCuzvL.jpg?v=1745863610"},{"product_id":"jasper-hill-alpha-tolman-lbs","title":"Jasper Hill Alpha Tolman","description":"\u003cp\u003eAlpha Tolman is an Alpine-style cow's milk cheese from Jasper Hill Farm in Greensboro, Vermont, made from raw grass-fed milk and aged in the Cellars at Jasper Hill. The recipe takes its cue from the cooked, pressed wheels of the European Alps, but the milk and the cave do the rest of the talking.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe paste is dense and pliant, slicing cleanly under the knife with that easy melting consistency Alpine styles are known for. Up front you get less sharpness and less acidity than a cheddar of the same age, then nutty, buttery, fruity notes through the middle. As the wheel matures it gets bolder, with caramelized onion and a meaty, savory depth that sits on the finish.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThis is the cheese to reach for when you want something that melts as well as it eats. Shave it on a sandwich, build a Mornay sauce out of it, fold it into a fondue, or just put it on a board on its own and let the Vermont pasture do the work.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"World's Best Cheese West","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":45731121037481,"sku":"13389","price":40.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0667\/6027\/8185\/files\/JasperHillAlphaTolman.jpg?v=1767466674"},{"product_id":"milton-four-alarm-cheddar-lb","title":"Milton Four Alarm Cheddar","description":"\u003cp\u003eFour Alarm Cheddar comes out of Milton Creamery in Milton, Iowa, a small family-run dairy in the southeast corner of the state. The base is a young pasteurized cow's milk cheddar, semi-soft and buttery, and the creamery blends in four different peppers before the curd is pressed: jalapeño, habanero, ghost chili, and chipotle.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe paste is creamy and pliable, not crumbly, with bright flecks of red and green pepper running all the way through. The first bite reads as a clean, mild cheddar with that fresh-cream sweetness, and then the heat starts to climb. It's a sneaky burn, medium at the front and slow to build, with the chipotle adding a smoky backbone underneath the brighter chili notes. By the finish you understand the name.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe cheddar holds up, the peppers stay in balance, and the heat lands as a long finish rather than a punch. Great on a melt, a burger, or shaved into tacos.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"World's Best Cheese West","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":45731145384105,"sku":"16285","price":35.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0667\/6027\/8185\/files\/FourAlarmCheddar.jpg?v=1763420112"},{"product_id":"milton-prairie-breeze-cheddar-lbs","title":"Milton Prairie Breeze Cheddar","description":"\u003cp\u003ePrairie Breeze is an aged white cheddar from Milton Creamery in Milton, Iowa, made with cow's milk from local Amish and Mennonite farms. It sits in a category of its own, a cheddar-style cheese that leans sweeter and more crystalline than the British clothbound tradition it draws from.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe paste is firm and dense, pale ivory, and breaks into flaky shards under the knife with the unmistakable crunch of calcium lactate crystals scattered through it. On the palate it opens with a bright fruity note, almost like fresh pineapple, then pulls into toasted hazelnut and brown butter through the middle and finishes long with a sweet-and-tangy aged-cheddar bite. The texture reads crumbly on the first bite and then turns creamy as it warms on the tongue, which is the trick that makes this cheese so easy to come back to.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eIt's an American original, aged around nine months and sold in wax. For anyone who thinks they know what cheddar tastes like, this one rewrites the rules a little, sweeter, fruitier, crunchier, and with real depth underneath.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"World's Best Cheese West","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":45731145416873,"sku":"15794","price":35.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0667\/6027\/8185\/files\/PrairieBreezeCheddar.jpg?v=1763328746"},{"product_id":"rogue-creamery-caveman-blue","title":"Rogue Creamery Caveman Blue","description":"\u003cp\u003eCaveman Blue comes from Rogue Creamery in Central Point, Oregon, an organic cow's milk blue aged six to twelve months in their cave system in the Rogue River Valley. This is a blue for people who want depth without the screaming tang.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe paste is fudgy and dense, more buttery slab than crumble under the knife, shot through with moderate blue veining that's been hand-piercing aerated so the Penicillium roqueforti can breathe through the wheel evenly. On the palate it opens sweet and creamy, almost like brown butter and vanilla, then the blue kicks in through the middle with a confident bite that pulls back before it turns sharp. Underneath all of that is a savory, almost meaty pull, beefy, a little bacony, that's the calling card of a properly cave-aged American blue.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eIt's organic, it's natural-rinded, and it sits right in the sweet spot where a blue is bold enough to stand on its own but balanced enough to win over people who think they don't like blue cheese.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"World's Best Cheese West","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":45731175301289,"sku":"13347","price":46.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0667\/6027\/8185\/files\/CaveManBlue.jpg?v=1763419819"},{"product_id":"capriole-obannon-6-oz","title":"Capriole O'Bannon (6oz)","description":"\u003cp\u003eCapriole O'Banon is a hand-ladled fresh goat cheese from Greenville, Indiana, wrapped in chestnut leaves that have been soaked in Kentucky bourbon. It's Judy Schad's American answer to the French Banon, with bourbon standing in for eau-de-vie.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe paste is bright and tangy, soft and almost spoonable under the leaves, with a chalky lift through the middle that goes creamier as the cheese settles. The chestnut leaves do real work here, pulling a sweet, woodsy, slightly boozy note into the rind that runs right up against the lactic snap of fresh goat's milk. Peel a leaf back and you can smell the bourbon and the damp leaf together before you even taste the cheese.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eIt's a small cheese with a big sense of place, a fresh chèvre that picked up a Kentucky accent on its way through Indiana. Unwrap it at the table so people can see what they're getting into.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"World's Best Cheese West","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":45731279798441,"sku":"705171410008","price":22.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0667\/6027\/8185\/files\/Carpiole.jpg?v=1766417990"},{"product_id":"kendall-farms-creme-fraiche-lbs","title":"Kendall Farms Creme Fraiche","description":"\u003cp\u003eKendall Farms Crème Fraîche comes out of Atascadero, on the central coast of California, where the Kendall family has been making cultured cream the French way for decades. It's pasteurized cow's cream inoculated with live lactic acid cultures and allowed to ripen until it sets up thick, tangy, and silky in the tub.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe butterfat sits at 40%, which is the number that matters here. That much fat means the cream stays stable when it hits heat, so it folds into a pan sauce or a soup without breaking or curdling the way sour cream will. The texture is dense and spoonable, glossy on the spoon, with a clean cultured tang on the front of the palate and sweet fresh cream underneath. No graininess, no sharp acidic bite at the back, just a long buttery finish.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThis is the workhorse cultured cream that professional kitchens reach for, and it does double duty at home. Spoon it cold over berries and a drizzle of honey, whisk it into a pan sauce off the heat, stir it into mashed potatoes, or use it as the base for a quick dip. Right in the sweet spot between heavy cream and fresh cheese.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Community Provisions V","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":45731314073769,"sku":"000939444449","price":20.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0667\/6027\/8185\/files\/CremeFreshQt.jpg?v=1764823052"},{"product_id":"point-reyes-toma-lbs","title":"Point Reyes Toma","description":"\u003cp\u003ePoint Reyes Toma comes from the Giacomini family at Point Reyes Farmstead in coastal Northern California, where the herd grazes on the pasture above Tomales Bay. It's a pasteurized cow's milk cheese, semi-hard with a thin natural rind, and it sits squarely in the everyday-eating category that this farm does really well.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe paste is smooth and pliable, pale ivory, and breaks into clean slabs under the knife with just a little give. On the palate it leads with sweet cream and fresh butter, the kind of lactic pull you expect from healthy California milk, and then a quiet grassy tang comes in on the back end from the coastal pasture. The finish is clean and short, no funk, no sharpness, just a mellow milky note that fades.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThis is a versatile cheese, the kind of wheel you keep around. It melts beautifully, it slices clean for a sandwich, and it holds its own on a board next to bigger flavors. Approachable without being boring, and a nice introduction to American farmstead cheese.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"World's Best Cheese West","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":45731435380905,"sku":"11694","price":38.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0667\/6027\/8185\/files\/untitled-16.jpg?v=1763338095"},{"product_id":"cheddar-cabot-clothbound-black-label-lbs","title":"Cabot Clothbound Black Label Cheddar","description":"\u003cp\u003eReal cheddar from Cabot, finished and aged at Jasper Hill Farm in Greensboro Bend, Vermont. This is the old-school way: a pasteurized cow's milk wheel wrapped in cloth bandages, rubbed with lard, and tucked into Jasper Hill's cellars for ten to fourteen months before it's ready to go.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eBlack Label is a rare, limited-release distinction, reserved for the exemplary wheels that show the most flavor development and complexity. Where the standard Cabot Clothbound is deeply savory and slightly tangy, with a nutty aroma and a sweet, caramel-like finish, the Black Label is the best-of-the-best batches, selected through sensory analysis. The paste is dense with a softly crystalline texture, breaking into clean shards under the knife, and the flavor runs richer and more concentrated: brown butter and macadamia up front, toasted baguette through the middle, and a long savory umami depth on the finish.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThis is the cheddar that proves what clothbound aging is actually for. It's a flex of a cheddar, real, patient, fully built, the version that reminds you why people kept doing it this way in the first place.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Gourmet Imports","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":45731441770665,"sku":"14822","price":45.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0667\/6027\/8185\/files\/images1.jpg?v=1745871581"},{"product_id":"wisconsin-yellow-cheddar-9yr-old","title":"Wisconsin Yellow Cheddar Aged 9 Years","description":"\u003cp\u003eWisconsin Yellow Cheddar aged nine years, colored the traditional way with annatto for that deep golden hue. Wisconsin is one of the oldest cheddar-making places in the country, and a wheel that's been held this long is a real rarity.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe paste is firm and dry, breaking into clean shards under the knife with a crunch of tyrosine crystals running through. On the palate it opens sharp and concentrated, then pulls into brown butter and toasted nut through the middle, with a butterscotch sweetness underneath the salt. There's a peppery tingle on the back of the palate that builds the longer you chew, and the finish sticks around well past the swallow.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eNine-year cheddars are not common, most wheels don't make it past five before drying out or losing balance. This one is right in the sweet spot where the age has concentrated the flavor without crossing into harsh or chalky. Slice a thin shard and let it sit on the tongue for a second before chewing, the paste softens and the butterscotch comes through.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Sanniti LLC","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":46181125521577,"sku":"16829","price":32.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0667\/6027\/8185\/files\/PeasThankYou3.jpg?v=1767198470"},{"product_id":"cheddar-hooks-12-year","title":"Hook's 15 Year Aged Cheddar","description":"\u003cp\u003eHook's 15 Year Aged Cheddar comes out of Mineral Point, Wisconsin, where Tony and Julie Hook have been making cheese since 1976 and aging the long-program cheddars that put them on the map. This is a pasteurized cow's milk cheddar held back for fifteen years, which is about as far as anyone in the country takes the recipe.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAfter that much time the paste has gone dense and hard, breaking in sharp flakes under the knife with a real crunch from tyrosine and calcium lactate crystals running all the way through. The flavor leads with a big sharp tang, then pulls into toasted nut, brown butter, and a savory, almost roasted depth. The finish is long and salty with that slow crystalline crunch fading out well past the swallow.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThis is one of the most popular cheddars in the shop for a reason. Fifteen years is a serious commitment from a cheesemaker, and you taste every one of them.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Hook's Cheese Company, Inc.","offers":[{"title":"Default","offer_id":46497908818089,"sku":"10001139","price":100.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0667\/6027\/8185\/files\/cheese-hooks-12-year-aged-cheddar_083caedd-c194-4f8c-bd34-9b68516d224a.jpg?v=1761069216"},{"product_id":"cheddar-hooks-15-year","title":"Hook's 15 Year Aged Cheddar","description":"\u003cp\u003eHook's 15 Year Aged Cheddar comes out of Mineral Point, Wisconsin, where Hook's Cheese Company has been quietly making some of the most serious aged cheddars in the country. Fifteen years of cellar aging is rarefied territory, and very few cheesemakers in the world are even attempting it.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe paste is intensely flaky. After that long in the cellar the cheese has lost a serious amount of moisture to the angel's share, so it doesn't slice cleanly, it breaks into sharp little shards under the knife, shot through with tyrosine crystals. On the palate it leads with a really bright acidity, the calling card of a properly aged Hook's, then pulls into toasted hazelnut and browned butter through the middle, and finishes with a long, sharp savory bite that holds on the palate well past the swallow.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThis is one of those cheeses where the years are doing real work. The concentration, the crystal crunch, the acidic snap, none of it exists in a younger cheddar. If you're chasing the most intense expression of American cheddar, this is right in the sweet spot.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Hook's Cheese Company, Inc.","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":46786189623465,"sku":"10001139","price":100.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0667\/6027\/8185\/files\/rs-w-1280_41d3b7ca-e80b-416a-8749-f1b32e6b11b7.webp?v=1770329706"}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0667\/6027\/8185\/collections\/collection-usa-country-only.png?v=1781109636","url":"https:\/\/cheesestore.com\/collections\/american-artisan-cheese.oembed","provider":"The Cheese Store of Beverly Hills | Domenico's Foods","version":"1.0","type":"link"}