Cheese and sake. For most people, it’s not as natural to say (or eat) as ‘wine and cheese’, but SakéOne aims to change that in a unique way. The Oregon-based sake brewery–one of the biggest and best of America’s two dozen or so sake breweries–announced this spring that it partnered with Jasper Hill Farm in Vermont to produce a sake rind-washed Willoughby cheese.
According to the sake producer’s press release, the cheese, “when young, tastes of sweet cream and apricots with a yeasty, floral aroma. As it ripens, a subtle earthiness becomes more pronounced and a savory, porcini mushroom and leek character develops.” Now, imagine this accented with sake, specifically, SakéOne’s Yomi Junmai Ginjo. We recently highlighted this sake in our social media as a strong player in the new trend of canned sake in America. The 13%ABV sake exhibits all the refreshing fruitiness you’d expect of a ginjo-grade sake, but is by no means delicate. It can definitely stand up to the creamy goodness of cheese.
The cheese is available starting this month (June) in an 8-ounce wheel, but only in Whole Foods Market locations in the Pacific Northwest. The Yomi sake, however, is now available in the following states: AK, AZ, CA, CO, FL, HI, IL, MA, NV, NJ, NY, NC, OR, TX, UT, WA. If you live outside the Pacific Northwest, hopefully you can have a friend ship you some of the cheese!
