While St. Patrick’s Day is a time to celebrate all things Irish, the day has taken on new meaning for me in our marketing world. A year ago, I wrote that we should all go to the Boston St. Paddy’s Day parade and bring cheese snacks to keep us strong for the merriment. Then Covid hit and things began shutting down. The parade was cancelled, and I had to revise the newsletter in what would turn out to be the first of many changes in 2020. Now, one year later, St. Patrick’s Day is back and we are still not going to any parades. But what we ARE still doing is stuffing our faces with Irish cheese!

Coolea is my main boo thang when it comes to Irish cheese. Helene and Dick Willems moved from Holland to a small farm in County Cork, Ireland in the late 1970s where they produced cheese as a hobby. However, they were so dang good at cheesemaking that, in 1986, it became a full-fledged business. Coolea is named for the town where it is made, Cúil Aodha, which when Anglicized, becomes Coolea (pronounced kool-ay). 

It has the rich butterscotch flavor of an aged gouda (Coolea is made like a gouda), with the savoriness of white miso, sweetness of bourbon, and the caramelized nuttiness of buttered toast. Drooling yet? Coolea melted over pieces of buttered toast would actually make an excellent St. Patrick’s Day snack! Or any day snack… I do want to put in an extra plug for eating this cheese at room temperature. Although it is not a mild cheese, the flavors are much duller straight out of the fridge, so if you think of it, take it out about twenty minutes before you want to eat it. I know, I know, that’s a lot of planning but I promise it’ll be worth it!

Happy St. Patrick’s Day, friends! Stay strong, we’re getting though this shiz. We can do it! Cheese will make us strong!

For the love of cheese and especially the Irish ones,

Kiri

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P.S. To all my local folks, have you ever gotten takeout from Tawakal Café in East Boston? If you can, get thee to the restaurant (aka takeout page) ASAP because it is quite awesome! I go for anything with goat or the Tawakal Plate. Although the dishes aren’t described on their online ordering page, they do have descriptions on their actual webpage. Or just call and ask what you should get. OR do what my dad does and “test the menu” and get everything. Yeah, yeah, do that!