Hudson Valley-based Angry Orchard Hard Cider and Brooklyn-based Crown Finish Caves have teamed up to create a limited-edition rosé cider washed the cheese, Amour from Walden, utilizing this year's hottest new drink, Angry Orchard Rosé hard cider.

Cider and cheese are a classic and delicious pairing. The apple-forward flavor of cider enhances the rich taste and texture of all types of cheese. Keeping this in mind, Angry Orchard head cider maker Ryan Burk worked closely with the team at Crown Finish Caves, visionaries in redefining the use of historic beer fermentation caves in a new and rather untraditional way, to age cheese. Crown Finish Caves was the ideal partner to create a Rosé cider washed cheese with, as the care and craft they put into their products are akin to Angry Orchard's cider making process. Amour from Walden highlights the rare red flesh apples, known as Amour Rouge or Red Love, that contribute to the cider's bright flavor and rosy hue.

Angry Orchard Rosé's apple-forward taste is complemented by refreshing light tannins, similar to a semi-dry wine, and is a perfect pairing with food. It has a light, yet refined floral aroma, medium mouthfeel, and bright apple finish. The young cheese from Crown Finish Caves used for Amour from Walden offers mouthwatering, complex flavors from its blend of rich sheeps' milk and cow cream. Together, the result is an undeniably autumnal creamy cheese with a subtle apple taste from the Angry Orchard Rosé cider wash.

"One of the things I love most about our cider is the diversity of flavors, aromas, and characteristics we can create from a raw ingredient, the apple," said Ryan Burk, head cider maker at Angry Orchard. "Cheese is very similar in that there are incredibly rich flavors and textures developed all from its base ingredient, milk. We're thrilled to bring cider and cheese together with Crown Finish Caves in an unexpected way with this Rosé cider washed cheese."

Amour from Walden is a small format, soft-ripened cow and sheep's milk triple crème with complex flavors, rosy hue, and a long buttery finish. The young cheese was made at Old Chatham Sheepherding Creamery, neighbors to Angry Orchard's Cidery in Walden, NY, in the Hudson Valley. The cheese arrived at Crown Finish Caves when it was just a few days old where its rind was then washed and aged with Rosé cider for about 2 weeks. Amour from Walden developed notes directly from the ciders vibrant flavor and color, including refreshing fruit-forward taste.

The cider making team at Angry Orchard has been experimenting with ingredients and techniques for over two decades, looking to give drinkers new ciders that are complex and balanced. Angry Orchard is committed to creating ciders using high-quality ingredients, including Rosé, which is made with rare, red flesh apples from France. Similarly, Crown Finish Caves has been aging cheese in an unconventional environment, thirty feet below street level underneath the Crown Heights neighborhood in Brooklyn. The cave, an old "lagering tunnel" sits below a long-defunct brewery that operated from the mid-1800s up until the Prohibition. Like Angry Orchard's cider making team, the affineurs at Crown Finish Caves are constantly experimenting with different cheese baths, such as cider, to produce unique and desirable flavors.

"At Crown Finish Caves, we are passionate about the never-ending trial process behind affinage, our cheese maturing process," said Benton Brown, Co-Owner at Crown Finish Caves. "We are always excited to try new mediums for cheese washing, especially ciders, so when Saxelby Cheesemongers approached us about the Angry Orchard project, we were intrigued. The Rosé cider provided a great apple-forward flavor and rosy color that was distinctive to this wash."

Where to Find Amour from Walden:
Amour from Walden will be available for sampling during the following events and for purchase starting November 6that Saxelby Cheesemongers in Chelsea Market and online at saxelbycheese.com.

November 6th, 2018: Amour from Walden Tasting led by head cider maker Ryan Burk and Saxelby Cheesemongers

Location: Saxelby Cheesemongers @ Chelsea Market, 75 9th Avenue New York, NY 10011

Timing: 5:30pm - 7:30pm

November 8th, 2018: Cider Week NYC Lower East Cider Fest

Location: Essex Street Market 120 Essex Street, New York, NY 10002

Timing: 6:30pm - 9:00pm

Angry Orchard will also have limited quantities of Amour from Walden available for purchase for drinkers who visit the Angry Orchard (2241 Albany Post Road, Walden, NY) starting Saturday, November 3rd.

Quantities are limited. Amour from Walden will be available while quantities last. The cider washed cheese contains alcohol, and you must be at least 21 years old to enjoy.

About Angry Orchard Cider Company: 

Angry Orchard Cider Company's cider makers have been experimenting with apple varieties and unique flavors to develop hard cider recipes for more than 20 years. The cider makers have traveled the world to find the best apples for cider making and chose specific varieties, like French bittersweet apples from Normandy and culinary apples from Italy and the United States, based on each cider's flavor profile. In November 2015, Angry Orchard established a home for cider research and development called the Cider House, located on a historic apple orchard in the New York Hudson River Valley.

Angry Orchard makes a variety of cider styles, including Angry Orchard Crisp Apple, made from traditional cider apples and tastes just like biting into a fresh apple, and Angry Orchard Rosé, made with rare red flesh apples from France. Angry Orchard is committed to drinker education and awareness-building to help grow the category for all cider makers.

About Crown Finish Caves: 

Crown Finish Caves is a New York State licensed dairy plant specializing in cheese aging, located in the former Nassau Brewery building in Crown Heights. The cheese is aged thirty feet below street level in tunnels originally designed for fermenting beer in the 1850's. The caves maintain a year-round temperature of 55 degrees making them ideal for cheese aging. We collaborate with creameries and receive young cheese, which we then age for as little as 2 weeks to as long as 12 months. On average, our cave houses 28,000 pounds of cheese including soft-ripened beer washed bloomies to bandaged cheddars and large format Alpines.

Source: PRNewswire