Here is “Noyan” by fromagerie Fritz Kaiser. This cheesemaker is located in southeastern Québec close to the US border. They are known to make firm cheeses with a strong personality, including a good raclette. Today I am tasting their Noyan, a firm surface-ripened cheese that gets its name from a nearby village.
The surface is beige, almost pink. Upon opening the pouch, the smell is rather strong but lot unpleasant. The cheese is semi ferm without any holes or bubbles. The taste is complex and reminds me of white mushroom with a hint of pepper and acorn. I could have let this cheese age a bit more but I’m hungry and I want to eat it today on a sourdough baguette.
While it might superficially remind me of the famous Oka cheese, and it has the same ingredients (pasteurized cow milk), I find the Noyan to be more tasteful and complex. It tastes more like the old times Oka (when it was still an artisan cheese, and not factory-made).
Great on bread and crackers. And probably great on a potato gratin (I’ll test that later).
Pairing: I’d go with a light tasting grenache red. Or amber beer with balanced bitterness.
by hdufort
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Damn typos. I wanted to write “…but not unpleasant”.