As a birthday gift, my wife gave me the greatest gift I could imagine. Three days of cheese, cheese tasting, cheese pairing, cheese talk and total cheese geekdom.

I found Murray’s Cheese in NYC about three years ago while on a buying trip for our specialty food store. I walked in the front door of the West Village shop while my wife said “You’ll really love THIS place.” She’d been here before and was she ever right. Instant love. The smell of pungent, nutty and even smelly cheeses hit me in the face. I was stunned. The monger behind the counter snapped me to attention “Can I HELP you?” Obviously, the third or fourth time he’d asked me. I had an excuse to be lost, the case must hold 250+ cheeses all stunningly displayed and gorgeous. I blurted out “I’ll take a quarter pound of Appenzeller!” He cut off a piece and offered it to me for a sample, delicious. Next I knew I was checking out and on the street outside. Wait, what happened? How’d I get outside? Why do I have a piece of Appenzeller, something we regularly carry at our store? Why not some exotic chevre?? Appenzeller?? NOOOO!!

We got back to our hotel and I got out my Appenzeller. It was quite delicious. No regrets, but it got me dreaming…

I dreamed of dropping everything to become a cheesemonger.


I didn’t. Couldn’t. Not me. Excuses, excuses.

So, three years later, and several visits to Murray’s later, I got my birthday present. Murray’s Cheese Bootcamp. Virtually everything you want to know about cheese packed into a three day course. I was rendered speechless. I couldn’t wait. I wasn’t working there, but as close as I could come.

I walked in the door on the Friday evening about a half an hour before they close. I walked up to the classroom and took my seat at the circle of tables. I had prepped by eating greens for about three days before class started. My digestive system is used to cheese, but this was going to be ridiculous and I wasn’t taking any chances. When I saw my plate, 14 cheeses, I knew my diet change had been worth it. The intro was underway, taught by Sascha. A knowledgeable and capable leader for the weekend. I won’t bore you with the specifics of what we tasted, but what we tasted was fantastic. Soft, fresh cheeses, goat, sheep, cow, nutty, aged and all “on point”. At the perfect ripeness. A couple of glasses of wine and introductions and we were delving headlong into cheese and all things curdy. I was exhilarated even more by the people I met. A couple from Wilmette, Il who were very excited about cheese, a woman from CA who said that the rest of her family thinks she’s a “freak” for loving cheese, a couple of real-life Murray’s employees (!) a retired doctor, a woman opening a cheese shop in Brooklyn, a woman who works for James Beard… All here because we love cheese. Everyone was so friendly and excited to be here.

The next day we spent in the caves, mimosa in hand we entered for a discussion by Michael, Murray’s Affineur, and a Central Illinois native. Also, like Sascha, an absolute wealth of information and a patient soul. My class asked a lot of questions. Not unlike a group of third graders, we wanted to know everything. Where many instructors would have gotten annoyed, all of ours answered each question and deferred some to future classes. We toured the caves and tasted more cheese, learning to differentiate between rinds, ages and more importantly, what exactly Murray’s DOES to cheese before selling it. You’ll have to take the class to get the info, so much was passed on. They aren’t shy about giving out “secrets.” I was especially interested in what I can do to extend the life of the cheese that enters our store. And most importantly, what BAD cheese tastes like so I know when it is perfect or needs to be pitched.

As a cheesemonger myself, I had a lot of understanding before starting the class. I knew going in that it was being taught by people who knew a lot more than I do. I was 100% correct and Michael showed his breadth and depth of knowledge during this session.

After a lunch break, we started the cheese history and geography session. How terrior is affected by how and where animals are raised. A cow eating onion will pass that into the milk. Cows eating spring flowers will pass on bloomy, floral notes. Again, this discussion was accompanied by more cheese.

Sunday’s classes were basically a dairy science class and a cheese and wine/beer pairing class. The dairy science class taught me the most of all of the sessions. How the different breeds of cattle produce very different milk, how goat milk differs from sheep, water buffalo and so on. Also, what actually happens to milk during the cheese making process. Now, some class members may not need that information when purchasing cheese for themselves, but this information will come in useful everyday when working behind the counter, actually selling cheese.

The best session is saved for last, for good reason, I’m sure. The wine/beer pairing. Our plates were set with five cheeses and we had ten glasses, five for the beers and five for the wines. We worked around the plate comparing and contrasting how each pairing fared against the other libation. I was surprised because I am a firm believer in beer and cheese. The just make sense to me. I loved some of the wine pairings and will definitely serve them at our next party! My favorite was gorgonzola and madeira. Salty and sweet. It was like dessert. After 10 glasses of drink and class we were done. I think someone said we ate 6 pounds of cheese over the class session. I felt like it.

Out of respect to the Murray’s staff I left out a lot of class details from this post. They gathered the information for the classes, it is theirs. If you are even slightly interested in learning more I would highly recommend the class. I have never felt so welcome, so involved and so happy with sitting in a classroom for three days.

What really sets it apart is that I learned to better serve our customers who are people both new to cheese and, pardon the pun, aged.