Vermont Butter & Cheese "Coupole" (Websterville, VT)

Served with brown butter apricots

They say: "Vermont Butter and Cheese Company is a cooperative supporting over 20 family farms. They pay each dairy for quality milk, providing incentives for each farmer to raise his standard of purity. The co-op has a strict standard of testing each milk, and the higher the score of an individual's milk, the more money she will receive. They have a line of fresh cheeses and butters, but are mostly known for their aged artisanal goat cheeses, modeled after the famous Loire Valley chevres. Bijou is their take on the classic French Crottin de Chavignol, and Coupole is made with the same recipe as Bijou. It is then drained into a larger mold, that of a miniature dome. They sprinkle it with a small amount of vegetable ash. Coupole is fully mature at 45 days."

Cmoore says: Dense, lactic, and chalky, with an overall mild, slightly sweet flavor profile and pleasant mouth-coating texture. Goat cheese seem more appealing and apropos in the summer, perhaps because the dense chalkiness pairs so nicely with the crisp, cold beverages I crave in the summer heat. I love that VBC is a co-op, and I love that this cheese is vegetarian: I think it would be particularly delicious with some honey and green apples.

Suggested pairings: Crisply acidic whites, like Sauvignon Blanc or Vernaccia; Light, effervescent beers like Belgian wit beer, a mildly hoppy Saison/Farmhouse ale, or even a nice Hefeweizen.