10 Great American Cheeses You Need to Know About

Sugarhouse Creamery Poundcake
Almost every wheel of this pudgy washed rind is sold on-site or in the farmer’s market local to the very rural town where it is made. Even I can barely get any and it’s literally my job to buy cheese

Alemar Good Thunder
I would punch myself in my own face for one bite of this gooey stinkbomb

Bleu Mont Bandaged Cheddar
This cheese tastes exactly like the farm I grew up on would smell on a rainy autumn day. Eating it is like being a kid again

Sequatchie Cove Shakerag Blue
Especially good considering that it’s a relatively new cheese from a relatively new cheesemaker. It’s like a moldy cherry pie that gets you drunk

Jasper Hill Bayley Hazen Blue
Possibly a perfect cheese – there’s nothing I can say that hasn’t already been said

Uplands Dairy Rush Creek Reserve
Two years ago this cheese’s season was skipped, and it wasn’t clear if it was ever going to be made again. When I broke the news to my family, one person actually screamed

Vulto Creamery Miranda
Most cheeses are made with love. This one is made OUT OF love

Vermont Shepherd
You just can’t go wrong with this standby – the Majors have been crushing this cheese out of the park since before a lot of today’s cheesemakers were even born. Like the best Ossau Iraty you’ve ever had from a little slice of Vermont Eden

Many Fold Farm Condor’s Ruin
Kind of like a Pouligny St Pierre but made with sheep’s milk. They are always right on the money. A young supple pyramid of this would make you reevaluate all your life’s priorities

Capriole Farm Sofia
A little Loire valley-style brick that is always just right, always there when you need it. Judy, the cheesemaker, is one of our most beloved stateswomen of American cheese