Nanbu Bijin Brewery’s Ume Rose Sake with Appleby’s Cheshire The flinty minerality and saltiness of Cheshire contrast beautifully with the plummy fruit of this fascinating sake. The plums must have gone in while the sake was still fermenting as I don’t get any sweetness from residual sugar, just a lovely fresh fruitiness. The flavours in both the cheese and sake are light and delicate so there’s no unseemly conflict and domination between them. Appleby’s is one of very few tra

My name’s Ned, and I’m an affineur, the cheese equivalent of a sommelier. Its a great job that I love because I get to share my fascination for cheese with all the wonderful people who come to my cheese tastings. When I’m hosting a cheese tasting, there are two questions I always get asked. One is ‘what’s your favourite cheese?’, a subject that requires a series of posts to answer. The other is ‘how did you get into this?’ ‘This’ being talking about cheese for a living, a job