Cahill's Original Irish Porter Cheddar

My last post on Cahill's Irish Whiskey Cheddar gave a brief background on Cahill's Cheeses. This post is on a sister cheese, Cahill's Irish Porter Cheddar. I did a post on this same cheese five years ago, but this time I had an opportunity to see a whole wheel of it cut up when I was visiting the warehouse of Cheese of the Month Club. 

A glass of dark porter is feature on the right side.

Could this cheese by any more distinctive? The wheel cut in half. It has a brown wax rind around the outside.

Look at the glass of porter on the wheel of cheese above, then look at this cheese. Is there any question where the dark color of the cheese comes from? It has a completely different taste. It tastes darker and richer, more substantial.  I've never tasted porter, but I have no problem guessing that there is a porter flavor in this cheese. One of the distinguishing characteristics of cheddar cheese is the "cheddaring" process where the curd is kneaded with salt, then cut into cubes to drain the whey, and then stacked and turned. I am assuming that the mottled nature of this cheese reveals the cheddaring process and that the porter is added at that time. When breaking up chunks of this cheese, as opposed to cutting it, I note that it breaks along the lines of those cut curds. 

My wedge of Irish Porter Cheese with some slices. 

I previously noted a taste comparison with three kinds of cheddars with avocado and egg. The Irish Porter Cheddar was at the bottom of the list as far as a taste combination. But it is one of the more fun cheeses to eat on its own. It tastes so much different than other cheeses that it is a nice complement to other cheeses on a cheese tray.