Murray's Cave Aged Reserve Barnstorm Blue
- Raw
- Animal Rennet
- Age: 4-5 Months
- Cow Milk
- by Murray's Cheese Caves
- United States
- ApproachableAdventurous
- SoftHard
Barnstorm Blue is full of delicious surprises. There’s the rosy washed rind hiding dramatic blue veins. The flavor? You’ll get freshly baked brownies, loud and clear, but with a hit of salty umami. It’s crumbly yet buttery on the palate. Washed rind blues are difficult to achieve, and this one took the combined expertise of our caves and Jasper Hill Farm (plus malty ale from Focal Point Beer Co.) to get right. Bring out the roasty cocoa and coffee notes with Rustic Bakery Cacao Nib Shortbread.
“Don’t be scared when you see blue and washed rind! Trust me, you have to try Barnstorm. It eats like salty dark chocolate fudge (with just enough funk to keep it interesting).”
Allergens: Milk
- Barnstorm Blue is an ambitious collaboration between Murray’s Cheese Caves, celebrating their 20th anniversary in 2004, and Jasper Hill Farm, a key partner in our caves program over the last two decades.
- Washed rind blues are rare and notoriously difficult from an affinage perspective, as it’s difficult to keep the microbial community of the rind distinct from the blue veins.
- Barnstorm starts at Jasper Hill Farm, where they form raw cow’s milk curds into cubes inoculated with Penicillium roqueforti.
- The cheesemakers pierce the cubes with needles to let oxygen in, allowing the blue mold to grow. The cheese then spends two months aging in a cold environment at Jasper Hill.
- When Barnstorm arrives at Murray’s Caves in Long Island City, our team ages it in a warmer environment (our Alpine Cave) for another two months, washing it in a rotating malty ale from local Focal Point Beer Co.
- Regularly washing the cheese helps it develop a sticky coral-hued rind, a hallmark of washed rind cheeses.
- Barnstorm has a touch of washed rind funk at the rind, but it’s balanced out by the roasty sweetness of the cocoa notes in this cheese.
- At Murray’s Cheese Caves in Queens, New York, our experts age and mature cheeses to perfection, creating unique products that are exclusive to Murray’s.
- We built our caves to enhance the quality of our products, as well as to honor the craft of cheesemakers across the globe. The practice of aging cheese, known in French as affinage, was relatively rare in the United States when we built our first set of caves in 2004.
- The cheeses that mature in our caves are crafted in a variety of ways, which are reflected on their labels, described below.
- Cave Aged Original cheeses are produced from a Murray’s original recipe—we have a hand in every step of the cheesemaking process.
- Cave Aged Reserve cheeses are made in collaboration with some of our favorite cheesemakers. They send us unaged wheels, and we use unique aging techniques to produce something completely new.
- Cave Aged Limited cheeses are born out of our constant innovation and experimentation, only available for a limited time.
- Cheeses in the Cave Aged category are aged in our caves with methods that replicate the treatment they would’ve received from their original producer. This category is largely populated by bloomy rind cheeses that don’t fare well in transport.
- Murray's operates four caves, designed to ensure that each cheese matures in its ideal environment—the Bloomy Rind Cave, Natural Rind Cave, Washed Rind Cave, and Alpine Cave.
- The temperature, humidity, and microbial activity in each cave are controlled and monitored with the greatest precision.
When you receive your cheese, unpack the order and refrigerate the items. We recommend using the cheese paper we send most of our products in to store the cheese. The cheese paper helps cover the items and stop them from drying out, while also allowing the cheese to breathe. Since cheese is mold, it's a living thing! If you cut off air circulation to the cheese, you can actually cause it to suffocate and spoil at a faster rate.
