Throwing a Cheese Soiree - Advice Wanted

[DoctorCheese]

Hello everyone! I am throwing a little cheese tasting get together for some of my friends (on 4/23/17) and I want to make sure to do a really good job representing a lot of difference cheeses. Below is the list of cheeses I have already. I have a large number of Gouda style cheeses and I think I need some to round out other styles. My question is: What cheese would you consider a must have for a cheese platter?

My current list is this:

• Midnight Moon - goat Gouda
• Smokey Blue
• Rochetla - tripple cream 3 milk cheese
• 7 year Cheddar
• Parmigiana Regiano
• Beemster - long aged gouda
• Ewephoria - sheep gouda
• Sapore - cow Italian hard

As well as three of my cheeses:

• Chapotle Pepper Jack
• Sour Brick (sharp wash rind)
• Smoked Paprika Anejo

Any advice? Note that it seems like a lot of cheeses but I for the most part they are not large portions. Thanks!

[awakephd]

I think some Alpine cheeses would round out the mix - add in some Emmental and/or Gruyere, and some Asiago or Montasio or something similar.

[DoctorCheese]

I added the following cheeses:

• Merlot Bella Vitano
• French Brie
• Aged provolone
• D'Avuergne blue

Grand total of 16 cheeses! I may have gone a bit overboard.

[DoctorCheese]

Here are some pictures from my party.

[Gregore]

I give you a cheese for introducing all your friends to the wonderful world of cheese

And what a nice spread

[Boofer]

Very impressive.

Can you single out which is the washed rind, stinky, oozy representative?

Nice photo spread. We need the purely subjective opinion sheets afterwards.

-Boofer-

[DoctorCheese]

Can you single out which is the washed rind, stinky, oozy representative?

Oddly, the cheese I chose to represent the stinkers of the cheese world is the cheese I made called "sour brick". It is not runny, but it has a b linens rind and tastes and smells like a mix between sour cream and b-linens. I also included rochetla, which is very soft and creamy, but not quite oozy. I find that if people are going to not like a cheese, it is usually a washed rind, so I tend to play it safe and just get cheeses I know are easy to love like goudas (my favorite).

I was very happily surprised by the reactions I got from my guests towards the cheeses I made myself. Each of them was well received and some people even picked my chapotle pepperjack as their favorite out of the selection. My favorite has to be the Beemster (a 2-3 year old gouda) or the 7 Year Cheddar which is the oldest cheese I have had and was very bright on the taste buds.

Also, I am pretty impressed with my ability to get specific flavors from my cheese that I want to create. My Chile Cheese Cheese has been confirmed to taste just like a bite of chile with sour creme and cheese on top.