I'm kind of stupid for cheese; it's been that way for as long as I can remember.  I don't know if it stems from that stupid Saturday Morning Cartoon jingle, "I hanker for a hunk'a cheese...YAH-HOO!" or what, but it's not uncommon for me to eat slabs of cheddar for no good reason other than they taste good.  I've even come to bash on "inferior" sharp cheddars because they didn't live up to my standards.  Add to that how my favourite salad dressing of all time is blue/bleu cheese, and you can see how I'd get all misty for an aged Stilton.  Lemme explain.

    Stilton cheese is the king of all English cheeses--with maybe Cheshire coming in second--and a blue Stilton is the best of the Stiltons.  If memory serves me right, Stilton's don't all become blues if left to their own devices.  They're either "seeded" (that's a term I made up, I don't know if it's correct) by poking holes in the cheese to let mould seep in, or they just happen to ferment naturally.  You can always tell a "seeded" blue cheese because the mould veins will run absolutely vertically (like the Point Reyes' Blue we have at Rays), whereas a natural blue is just all over the place.  Funny pre-story in that we served a port wine-soaked blue Stilton during our Thanksgiving buffet at Rays, which gave me the taste of greatness.  I was truly surprised to find a blue Stilton hanging out at the Ballard Market, and I was NOT going to pass it up.

    Most folks either like blues or really, REALLY hate blues.  The thought of putting a further mouldy moulding product in their mouths...well, you might as well just ask them to eat it with raw mushrooms, lutefisk and natto.  You either like it or no, and I'm a like it kind of guy.

    Thomas Hoe Stevenson's Blue Stilton is simply amazing.  There isn't the sharpness that you normally associate with blues like Roquefort, while at the same time adding that funny "stinky sock"/old cheese taste that isn't nearly as bad as it sounds.  This cheese is well-aged, and it shows in the mellow roundness of its flavour.  The rind has an even more elusive taste, which I can't quite pinpoint.  It's "crunchier," if that makes any sense, and kind of tastes smoked. 

    This is not cooking cheese (though a fondue with it would crush all competition), but eating cheese.  Cheese to be nibbled lightly whilst drinking wine or eating fruit.  Yes, it is "cheese-snobs" cheese, and at $13 a pound ON SALE, it better be.  But trust me, it's so worth it.  You can't eat a lot, so you won't need a lot.  The taste sticks on your tongue for minutes after you've eaten, and the heady scent (Crap, I've turned into a food critic) lingers on your fingers and in your nose longer still.  It's a pretty awesome experience.

Rating: Good enough to make GG get poetic out of 10