Week 1 – New Year's Day, Scharfe Maxx paired with German wine, guest starring Byron and Dominic

For the full story on this first cheese we have to go way back, back ten years. I was newly graduated and had a friend Dylan that joined the military pretty much right out of high school. He ended up getting stationed in Germany for a period of time, and he and another friend, were really jazzed at the idea of going to our 10 year high school reunion. So much so, that Dylan spent a period of time collecting wine bottled in the year 2005 from all over different countries in Europe, with the intention of saving them for our reunion. I couldn’t even tell you how many bottles he ended up with. Now, I had no interest in going to our 10 year high reunion. Literally none. The only reason I feel like anyone should attend their reunion is to see who got fat and who pumped out a bunch of babies. Facebook, or any social media really, has changed the reunion game. All the people you want to keep in touch with you do. Yay for the interwebz!

BUT, somehow, it ended up that I’d be home (home being Oahu, HI by the way, I don’t think I’ve mentioned that) the same weekend that my reunion fell on. And I got on board with the reunion idea, if only for the fact that we had a shit-ton of wine collected.

Long story short, we totally blew off the reunion (sorry Marco, we’re the worst) in favor of drinking at CPK. I did however, get sent back to Portland with a ten year old bottle of German red wine, which became the subject that I would pair my first cheese with. I should mention that these wine bottles weren’t stored in a way I would categorize as ‘properly’. We were taking a gamble with ten year old wine stored in a cooler, in a truck, in humid-as-fuck Hawaii. We were, to say the least, wary.

After consulting the folks at Freddys I landed on Scharfe Maxx for the evening. Armed with my German bottle of wine, my cheese, and the ingredients for a Brussels sprout and shallot dip (recipe here- http://minimalistbaker.com/creamy-brussels-sprout-shallot-dip/) I was ready for my first cheese night.

History:

Scharfe Maxx is a semi-firm dairy cow cheese that hails from Switzerland. For three generations the Studer family has been producing Scharfe Maxx (translation–the sharp Maxx) in response to the Swiss Cheese Union; a cartel that heavily regulated the production of cheeses (limiting to only three types: Gruyere, Emmental, and Sbrinz) at controlled prices. The typical age of this type of cheese is 6-9 months.

Our review:

All three of us immediately recognized the sharp flavor (after all it’s in the name), but the richness and creaminess also stood out. After doing some research I found this because the cheesemakers add cream to the milk during production. Most notably, we found that the rind added a whole new element of flavor. As Byron keenly pointed out, the rind had a distinct beef-y flavor that rounded out the cheeses’ overt richness. Also, it paired perfectly with our bottle of wine (which ended up being one the best bottles of wine I’ve had the pleasure of trying). Overall, it was a bacchanalian night that would make a Roman god proud.