Current Featured Cheese - March 2026

This unique variety of cheese has a very distinct taste. Its aroma is strong and is reminiscent of the fragrance of yeast and dried fruit. Occasionally one can even distinguish a note of boiled chestnuts. To the touch, it is slightly elastic when it's relatively young and harder when fully matured. The dark shades of yellow straw that distinguish this variety can at times reach the intensity of amber. The sweet taste can acquire a somewhat more savory flavor and ranges to slightly piquant. The rich aroma becomes refined with seasoning and has a hint of dried fruit, butter and sometimes, exotic fruits.

Artikaas has been making artisan cheeses in The Netherlands for six generations, since 1890. Today’s cheesemakers combine traditional and sustainable cheesemaking methods that date back over 2000 years with modern-day technological advances to create enduring cheese masterpieces of texture and flavor to satisfy the growing international demand.

Cheesemaker Jeff Jirik describes his top-shelf blue as “complex, complicated yet delightfully intimate.” The paste and mouthfeel are super creamy. This cheese has a distinctive spicy piquant sharpness and tanginess and the presentation is nothing short of gorgeous with its abundant bluing. Overall, it’s a very approachable blue and not too overwhelming. St. Pete’s Select blue will pair well with strong ales like AleSmith’s Private Stock Ale or Deschutes Jubelale. It would also work well with your favorite tawny port.

Ewephoria is a Dutch gouda-style cheese made from pasteurized sheep’s milk instead of cow’s milk, as well as vegetable rennet cultures, and then aged 12 months. CheeseLand, a Seattle-based importer of Dutch cheeses, worked with a small farm to create Ewephoria in 2004. The sheep graze on salty, green, island pastures near a nature preserve in the northern Friesland region of The Netherlands bordering the sea, where they are treated like members of the family.

Mariana is a firm to semi-firm cow’s milk cheese with a smooth, supple texture and a pale golden interior. On the nose, it offers aromas of toasted grain, cultured butter, and gentle nuttiness. The palate opens with sweet cream and warm milk flavors before developing layers of roasted hazelnut, browned butter, and subtle savory notes reminiscent of alpine herbs and hay. As it ages, the finish becomes more complex and lingering, with a mild...