As a shop, and really as an industry, we love Cato Corner Farm. Cato Corner is a small cheese producer in Colchester, Connecticut run by mother-son team Liz MacAlister and Mark Gillman. Liz has raised goats and sheep since the 1970s and started making cheese in 1997 to make her farm self-sustaining. She started with 13 cows, but over the years she has grown the herd to 45 cows, mostly Jerseys, which she and her farm staff milk twice a day. The care they show for their cows and the land translates to flavorful and rich milk, perfect for cheesemaking. 

Mark was a 7th grade English teacher until 1999 when he decided to join his mother and help run her operation. He monitors the quality of the milk in a given season to make the best cheese from that milk. To make aged cheeses, Mark uses summer milk, which tends to be sweet, grassy, and butter yellow; to make semi-soft cheeses, he uses the lower volume, fattier winter milk. The richness helps make the texture of the cheese more luxurious and creamy. Through Mark and Liz’s care and experience, we get delectable cheese from a farm we really love.

Aged Bloomsday is without question one of our favorite cheeses of all time. The golden yellow paste is firm and nutty and dotted with crunchy crystals. Its flavors are bright and tangy, with the sharpness of cheddar and the sweetness of gouda. Break up the cheese into craggy pieces, pour a glass of your favorite juicy New England IPA, and enjoy until it’s all gone!