We have been cheese enthusiasts for all of three days, so, as every influencer on social media has led us to believe, we are pretty much cheese experts by now, and Muranda Cheese Company provided the $7 tasting receipt to prove it.
Muranda Cheese Company is a tourist trap and was a lot busier than we had expected on a Sunday morning, but just being new to this cheese expert game, we really had no idea what to expect crowd-wise. The inner sanctum, the “lieu du fromage sacré et des craquelins,” as people from the French region of France would say, is housed inside a barn. It’s a pretty cool barn, with bright sunlight streaming between slats and spilling across the floor, but a barn nonetheless.
The part that gets me is charging for a cheese tasting. No crackers or bread. No jams or jellies. No palate cleanser or sip of water (unless paying separately for bottled water). Nope, just $7 per person for the privilege to subject yourself to their sales spiel in hopes that you will give them more money by buying the product they already charged you to taste. It’s a bit like paying money to go to a timeshare sales pitch…without the free water and snacks. Or a car salesman charging customers to even show them the inventory on the lot. If the premise is that the cheeses are somehow extraordinary or elitist and therefore mandate a fee to even taste them, we’ll get to that next.
“Eh.” That’s pretty much how I would sum up most of the twelve (plus a bonus) cheese morsals we were offered for our $7 fee. (See below for a list of my actual cheese ratings.) Most are fairly young-aged cheeses and lack a certain fortitude (my words). Some are just gimmicks, such as infusing scallions or horseradish into the cheese (though the horseradish was fairly good, albeit hardly an original concept). There seemed to be an abundance of cheddars and cheddar hybrids. Sure, perhaps a bit subjective, but cheddar is not a particularly pleasing or intriguing cheese. For my $7, I wanted to see some creativity and originality.
Did I dislike all of the cheeses? Absolutely not! Their Farmhouse Parm and BelCeillo are very delicious and much more in line with what I was hoping to find. And their Muranda Blue is the best blue I’ve ever had. But, I had to pay $7 to learn this.
Did we buy any cheese whilst there? Yes, a little. Was it a worthwhile experience? Kinda, despite having to pay $7 to be the test subject for their marketing program. I mean, it was time spent with my wife enjoying life, so in that regard, yes. Would I visit again? Probably not. There’s other farms and creameries around with better cheese who don’t charge you to taste it. Would I recommend Muranda Cheese Company to others passing through the area? Only if I disliked them and wished them to be $7 poorer.
CHEESE RATINGS
– Rosie’s Choice: Eh
– Red Buddy: Neh
– Cranky Old Lady: Meh
– Farmhouse Parm: Yas girl!
– BelCeillo: Yep
– Gotcha Gouda: Mindless Snacking (if you don’t need anything actually stimulating)
– Dilly Girl: Meh
– Scallion Onion: Wouldn’t murder it
– Checkerboard Cheddar: Too much cheddar
– Red Rider: Too heavy on the cheddar
– Smoked Cheddar: Too much cheddar
– Muranda Blue: Best blue ever
– Horseradish: Would...
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