Pleasant Ridge Reserve from Uplands Cheese

Sometimes I think this is the best American cheese being made today. Like a European mountain cheese, it's fruity in an apple sort of way—rich, deep and sweet. It's great paired with slices of pear, cubed on salads or all by its lonesome. If I had my pick of the world's cheeses to enjoy, I'd come back to this one again and again.

Made by Andy Hatch in Dodgeville, Wisconsin, considered to be one of the best young cheesemakers in the country. 

Pleasant Ridge is a cheese made with only the milk of the farm's own mixed herd of 140 or so Holsteins, Brown Swiss and Jerseys. Production is very small—about 6,000 wheels this year. They utilize a seasonal, open grazing system, which means all the milk used to make the Pleasant Ridge Reserve is taken when the cows are happy and content out in the open pasture. Happy cows make great tasting milk.

Since we've been working so closely with Andy we have the opportunity to select specific days of cheese, tasting from a series of different days of production to pick the most flavorful of the bunch to bring to Ann Arbor.

"It's hard to overstate how good this cheese is. Oh, and it's the most-awarded cheese in American history. It's great for snacking and cheese boards, but also great for melting, if you'd like to make the best grilled cheese sandwich ever."
Christine Clark, Business Insider

"A modern American classic."
David Landsel, Food & Wine

"One of the ten best foods in America."
Simon Majumdar, Fed, White, & Blue

Cow's milk
Unpasteurized (Raw)
Traditional rennet