Try This: Rush Creek Reserve

During this season of holiday indulgence, there’s one more treat you should add to your list: Rush Creek Reserve. It’s an ultra-creamy, raw cow’s-milk cheese from Uplands Cheese Company in Dodgeville, Wisconsin, the same master cheesemakers who give us the award-winning Pleasant Ridge Reserve. Rush Creek is like Pleasant Ridge’s younger, more daring sister: It’s made from the same milk, but only produced in the fall when the cows have stopped eating grass and begun eating hay. It’s aged far less and designed to be soft and smooth; it’s scoop-able, spreadable, and utterly irresistible. Modeled after the famous, ooey-gooey Vacherin Mont D’Or, it tastes of butter, caramel, and (pleasantly) wood thanks to its spruce bark wrapping. Rush Creek Reserve is a truly special cheese that deserves top billing on your holiday table.

To serve it, remove the wheel’s top rind and scoop the cheese onto crostini or crackers; pair it with something puckery, like pickles, to cut the richness. You can also gently warm the cheese in its rind, then spoon it over roasted vegetables and baked potatoes or use it as a warm dip for crudité and fruit.

Only one cheese shop in Denver will have Rush Creek Reserve delivered straight from Uplands Cheese this year: Cheese & Provisions in Sunnyside. Owners Steve and Kim Duty are friends with Uplands’ Andy Hatch, and they begged to carry his seasonal cheese in their shop—but only if Andy would ship directly to them, guaranteeing proper handling and superior quality. The cheese is best consumed within three months of leaving Uplands’ farm (there’s a Best By date on the wrapper); Steve and Kim getting the cheese straight from Uplands saves time as it travels from farm to store to your table.

There are two more shipments before the end of the year: December 12 and December 19. Steve and Kim are expecting about 16 wheels (only sold whole; 12 ounces each, $34) per shipment, so be one of the lucky ones and call to reserve yours now.

2432 W. 44th Ave., 303-330-2248