When it comes to Brian Civitello at Mystic Cheese, I’m a fan girl. Civitello is a student of history who finds inspiration in cheeses of the past. He’s a risk taker. But most important, he is exceptionally skilled. Everything I’ve tasted from his Connecticut creamery has been captivating, unusual and memorable, including the newcomer pictured above. It won a blue ribbon at the American Cheese Society competition this year, a vindication for Civitello after years of hearing from judges that his hard cheeses were flawed. They are not, but they are difficult to categorize and therefore easy to misjudge. Evaluated on its own merits, Mystic’s The Gray is, in my view, one of the most compelling new American cheeses.
Mystic master: Brian Civitello
Civitello has spent a good share of his career making Italian and Italian-style cheeses. You can read more about his impressive résumé here. So it’s curious—he agrees—that his most recent creations are about as far from mozzarella, ricotta and robiola as you can get. Civitello has developed a fascination with some of Europe’s oldest cheeses—French Cantal, Italy’s Castelmagno and English Cheshire and Lancashire among them. These cow’s milk wheels are all variations on a theme, made from roughly similar recipes that share some features with farmhouse Cheddar. They are large, firm, crumbly and tart, with natural rinds.
The Gray is Civitello’s tribute to Cheshire, a style that English immigrants introduced to the U.S. in colonial days. In 1802, residents of Cheshire, Massachusetts, made a 1,235-pound wheel as a gift for Thomas Jefferson by pooling milk from every cow in the town. Once popular here, Cheshire has largely (maybe entirely) vanished. I don’t know of a domestic maker. Even in the UK, only a handful of producers remain.
“I really wanted to understand why Cheshire went away,” Civitello told me in an email. After making The Gray for a year, he decided that the explanation might be largely economic. Cheshire-style cheese is more challenging to make and takes longer than Cheddar, tying up equipment and slowing down the production schedule. In an industrial setting where “pennies and nickels mean a cheese lives or dies,” says Civitello, Cheshire doesn’t pencil out.
At his own creamery in Groton, Civitello can choose the more painstaking methods that a bean counter might nix. Following traditional Cheshire procedures, he puts the curds through a mill, salts them by hand, packs them in hoops and lets them drain overnight before a long, slow pressing to remove more whey. Departing from tradition, he doesn’t add annatto, the plant-based dye that gives Mimolette, Cheshire and many Cheddars their orange hue.
Ode to French Cantal: Mystic Cheese Finback
“I find the use of annatto to be a weird leftover from colonialism,” says Civitello. “The ingredient is from a tropical place. I don’t see the point of using fossil fuel to transport it. I want the pure white color of the Ayrshire milk to come through.” Like other breeds, Ayrshires get beta carotene from grass, which typically gives cow’s milk its buttery hue. But Ayrshires convert the beta carotene to colorless vitamin A. That’s why goat’s milk cheeses are pale, too.
Civitello is currently aging The Gray for three to four months. The winning wheel was six months old but strong demand is driving the creamery to release it earlier. What I tasted was young but seductive, with aromas of buttermilk, warm butter and cave. Firm and friable, with mouthwatering acidity and buttery flavor, The Gray kept me coming back for another taste long after I should have been satisfied. The appearance is flawless, with a thin, handsome natural rind and an interior the color of pale butter.
Civitello’s small creamery is about 500 yards from the Atlantic Ocean. He and his business partner, Jason Sobocinski, started Mystic in a shipping container in Mystic, Connecticut, about 10 years ago and moved to Groton when they had the funds to expand. All their cheese names have whaling themes. The gray whale is thought to be extinct in the Atlantic, although one was sighted near Nantucket last spring. Perhaps this is a good omen for The Gray.
“Twenty-two years into my cheesemaking career I have found myself making award-winning British-style cheese when I am an Italian cheese expert,” Civitello told me. “I wouldn’t have guessed.”
For now, Mystic Cheese’s The Gray is in limited distribution but availability should grow. In California, it’s at the Cheese Board in Berkeley, Cheese Parlor in Livermore and Market Hall Foods in Oakland. On the East Coast, look for it at Bacco’s Wine & Cheese (Boston), Caseus (New Haven, CT), The Cheese Shop (Concord, MA), Cheese Shop of Salem (Salem, MA), Curds & Co (Brookline, MA), Fairfield and Greenwich Cheese Shops (CT), Gathering Table (Wakefield, RI), Plum Plums Cheese (New Canaan, CT)and Wasik’s Cheese Shop (Wellesley, MA).