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Cato Corner Farm Hooligan

$45.00/Lb

This pungent, beefy tomme has a nutty flavor with a supple, savory creamline and a mild, milky core. Cheesemaker Mark Gilman handcrafts each wheel from the raw milk of his mother Elizabeth's pasture-raised Jersey cows on their Colchester, Connecticut farm. The surface of each wheel is washed with a mixture of brine and tangy buttermilk before they're further aged in Murray's caves. The meaty intensity flourishes with age, and the mushroomy creamline develops even further. Feed Hooligan's rowdiness with a British cask ale or tame the funk with a fruity wheat beer.

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Just the Facts

Country
United States
Region
Connecticut
Milk Type
Cow
Pasteurization
Raw
Rennet Type
Animal
Age
60 days
Pour a glass of...

  • Cider

    Brie and apples, cheddar and apples – both delicious! Why not extend that deliciousness to apples in liquid form? Enjoy cider and cheese for a pairing to remember.

    English style: drier, more like a beer, with nice acidity.
    Pair with: Just about anything but we love it with firm natural rind cheese, like Landaff.


    Basque/Normandy : barnyardy and funky, but still with a little sweetness.
    Pair with: A beefy washed rind, like Grayson to contrast the sugar and bring out the funk.


    American Cider: often, but not always on the sweeter side.
    Pair with: Sweet and earthy Bleu Mont Bandaged Cheddar or malty Bleu d’Auvergne.

  • Farmhouse Ales & Sours

    Farmhouse, Saison, Bière de Garde, Lambic, Sour Beer

    Farmhouse ales, instead of being driven by malt or hops, depend on the yeast for their distinctive spicy, floral, and tart flavors. Commonly made by brewers in France and Belgium, farmhouse ales are usually light in color and body and quite effervescent. From time to time, brewers allow wild yeasts to ferment the beer, resulting in a brew that falls somewhere in between pleasantly bright to bracingly sour.
    Pair with: Mushroomy Brie Fermier or funky, bacony Epoisses are matches made in heaven.


  • Pinot Noir

    Lighter bodied and delicate. Old World style generally offers more funk, New World more fruit.

    Old World Pinot: Flavors of fresh cherries and raspberry balanced by a barnyard funk and high minerality. Sometimes has floral aromas, reminiscent of rose petal.
    Pair with: Almost anything! Works with funky Frenchies Epoisses and Langres, or mild natural rinds like Tomme de Savoie.

    New World Pinot: More sugary, with jam-like fruit, dried cherries, oak, and spice.
    Pair with: Full, fatty flavors. Alpines, cheddars, and Manchego.


  • Riesling

    This food-friendly wine ranges from super sweet to quite dry. Acidity, minerality, and aromas of tropical fruit are almost always present.

    Dry: Characterized by bracing acidity and stark minerality. Tropical fruit on the nose, stunningly balanced flavor overall.
    Pair with: This versatile wine works equally well with a fresh chevre (bringing out acidity) as it does a stinker like Willoughby (playing up the sweet/salty contrast).


    Sweet: The other end of the spectrum offers a cloyingly sweet, syrupy wine. Aromas of ripe peaches and tropical fruit dominate, along with floral, perfumed accents.
    Pair with: With something this strong it’s best to contrast the sweetness with something funky or salty: A pungent washed rind like Grayson or a punchy blue like Bleu du Bocage.

Since the 1970s, Elizabeth McAllister has farmed the same plot of land in Colchester, Connecticut, making the switch from sheep and goats raised for meat to a herd of pastured Jersey cows raised for their rich, grassy milk perfect for cheesemaking. In 1999 Elizabeth’s son Mark Gillman left his job as a 7th grade English teacher to focus on cheesemaking, while Elizabeth poured her energies into the herd. Cato Corner cheeses possess a distinct terroir, from the grasses of the pasture shining through in their milk to the ambient microflora of their aging cave that develops the unique rind of each cheese.

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