Gruyère
Fribourg, Switzerland
Swiss name-controlled

This is Swiss! Representing the host of great cooked-curd alpine cheeses, Gruyère is probably one of the most famous cheeses in the world. It deserves every scrap of its fame. Gruyères, both the select and the standard, exhibit a lovely pliable texture coupled with the flavor intensity of a drier cheese. It tastes nutty, fruity, buttery, with a unique piquancy from propionic acid. The more well aged examples will have tiny crunchy bits in the sea of toothsome paste; these are proteins slowly crystallizing over time.

Stanser Schafkäse
Bern, Switzerland
Aged by Beeler

Another not to be missed sheep cheese, this Stanser owes its awesomely rich, nutty sheep taste to the caves of Maître fromager Affineur Rolf Beeler. Rolf is a master of the washed rind style, rare for this type of cheese. It's nice to see the usually mellow ewe's milk balanced by a decidedly decayed undertone.