• Chefs, culinary students, and restaurant owners: Ever wanted to start a cheese program at a restaurant? Open your own cheese shop? Become a cheese educator?

• Wine, beer, beverage, mixology professionals: Learn everything you need to know about the ultimate pairing partner.

• Murray's Cheese Course regulars: You know who you are. Ever wanted to go beyond cheese 101? WAY beyond? Here's your chance.

• Serious cheese enthusiasts and enterprising gastronauts: You know it, we know it, cheese has arrived. Time to beef up on the subject.

• New Yorkers in the know: Enough said.

• World Class Instructors

• Longer, more in-depth classes

• More cheese tasting and evaluation

• Murray’s Cheese certified Cheese U diploma

• 10% discount at Murray’s for all cheese purchased during your tenure as a Cheese U student

• The Murray’s Cheese Handbook

• Cheese U class binder, chock-full of cheese literature, cheese charts, cheese facts, tasting forms, maps, and more!

Welcome to Cheese U: no ordinary cheese course. Join Rob Kaufelt, Proprietor of Murray's Cheese, and Liz Thorpe, Murray's Managing Director, for an introduction to our cheese university. Collect your binders, complete with readings for each class, and get a crash course on the common thread throughout the series: tasting. Beyond Cheese 101. WAY beyond. Just what makes one cheese different from the next? Taste through a bevy of different cheese types and introduce your palate to the flavor characteristics of each and every family of cheese. Learn about flavor profiles and the idiosyncratic elements that distinguish one cheese type from the next and get initiated to the level of tasting that you will "have to" endure for the remainder of the series.

Expert Marc Druart cooks up some curd and conducts a vertical tasting of cow, sheep, and goat milks, yogurts, and cheeses. With detailed concentration on the nutritional and chemical makeup of each type of milk, understand, in plain English, the inherent differences between cow, sheep, and goat milks, and how these differences translate to the taste and characteristics of their respective cheeses.

This week, understand how history, politics, and religion have influenced cheesemaking and cheese styles. How does a country’s topography influence its cheese production? What are the origins of cheese? How have cheesemaking methods evolved through time? During an international crash course on the world’s greatest cheese regions and the fromage that made them famous, learn about the pivotal elements of history and geography that have influenced cheesemaking styles.

This week, join one of America's leading, most pivotal cheesemakers for a deconstruction of the true art of cheesemaking. Mark Gillman, of the acclaimed Cato Corner Farm, comes to discuss his cheeses -- of numerous styles and types -- which have won many awards over the years. Just how does he do it? Learn how terroir, animals’ diet, great milk, and a bit of creativity play integral roles in helping him succeed.

Ah, Affinage: That magical final step in the cheesemaking process, the culmination of every measure taken to ensure a fine wheel of cheese, and the process that can determine whether your cheese becomes nutty and full bodied or rubbery and dry. Affinage can affect the flavor, texture, appearance, and durability of cheese. This week, BE ONE WITH THE CHEESE: Class is conducted in our caves, and you're doing the smelly work, as Zoe Brickley, Murray's very own affineur, guides a tasting and affinage exercise illustrating the integral role that aging plays in the flavor development of cheese. Also in this session, an exploration of tasting cheese. Sample award-winning, defective, overripe, underripe, and perfectly ripened cheese, and learn how to taste and evaluate cheese like a professional.

Garrett and Josh, together? Join Garrett Oliver, brewmaster of the Brooklyn Brewery and award winning author, and Josh Wesson, president of Best Cellars and sommelier extraordinaire, for an evening of matchmaking. Understand in full the pairing capabilities and fundamentals of both wine and beer with our moldy little friends, and learn for yourself how the unique craft of pairing correctly makes your cheese sing.