While some cheeses are made on farms that raise their own animals, more and more farming and cheesemaking have become two distinct enterprises – today, you don’t need a farm in order to make great cheese, and Crown Finish Caves in Brooklyn is a stellar example of that. Crown Finish is a “finisher” of cheeses, what’s commonly called an “affineur”, a true art form in cheesemaking. They receive their cheese from the creamery young and fresh and go to town with it during the affinage period. It’s indeed an art, and one they have perfected.
Naked Pruner starts as a soft disc-shaped sheep cheese made at Old Chatham Sheepherding Creamery in NY, about 3 hours away from Manhattan. Once it arrives at Crown Finish, it’s allowed to rest and ripen in the caves for a few days before getting a wash in a stout ale from Grimm Artisanal Ales. The rich sheep’s milk cheese is aged for 4 weeks, with ale baths in between, ripening into a spectacularly creamy, unctuous cheese that becomes dense, tangy and gooey, with notes of mushroom, and of course, ale.
You’d never guess it, but 30 feet below an assuming street in Brooklyn lies 28,000 pounds of great cheese. In this most unexpected of places lives Crown Finish Caves, masterfully aging cheeses in old fermenting tunnels underneath an old beer-brewing facility in Brooklyn. Originally designed for fermenting beer, these “caves” have been repurposed for aging cheese the average year-round temps of 50 degrees rendering it ideal for this purpose.
Pasteurized sheep's milk, cultures, rennet, salt beer.
Usually ships within 1 business days.
Product is perishable and must ship via Overnight service.