Tuesday, July 1, 2008

The July tastings

There are two sets of Joy of Cheese tastings in July.
The first is Sunday afternoon July 20 at Nectar Wine Bar, 2235 Frederick Douglass Blvd. nectar is a fabulous new wine bar opened last month by the folks who made Harlem Vintage into one of Manhattan's leading wine boutiques. The Joy of Cheese is in charge of the cheese program there, and I'll be conducting a survey tasting on the new world portion of the menu, Constant Bliss, Kunik, Bayley Hazen Blue, Pleasant Ridge Reserve and the Jasper Hill Cabot Clothbound Cheddar. We will introduce five cheeses that represent the next step beyond these superb cheeses and of course there will be two mystery cheeses and dark chocolate at the finish.
In addition, there the cheeses will be paired with a flight of wines from the Nectar wine list.
Tickets are $50 and available via www.brownpapertickets.com

Then July 29, 31 and August 5 we return to our downtown homebase, 10 Degrees, 121 St. Mark's Place, to conduct Classic French Cheese vs. Le Nouveau Fromage, a tasting that will contrast what the French think of as basic cheeses (their Kraft) with what new and exciting cheeses from the leading French affineurs.
Tickets for this event are $40 at the door, $35 via www.brownpapertickets.com

-MJ