CheeseReviews.org

Gubbeen is one of those washed rind cheeses that will vary wildly in flavor depending on age. If you get it young it can be mild and slightly fragrant. If you get a more ripe sample (which you probably will if you buy it in the US) it can be quite stinky. At that point, some people will like the strong flavor and aroma, while others will hate it. Put me down in the hate column.

But also make a notation that I really need to try a "young" sample of this cheese. Until I can get samples at several different ages I have no idea whether what we tried was just ripe or if it really should have been thrown out. My cheese to-do list just gets longer and longer.

Gubbeen is a farm house cheese - Hand-made in small batches from local milk. It's a washed rind cheese where flavor-inducing bacteria (rather than mold) are encouraged to proliferate.

The cheese we tried was sweet and slightly salty with a deep barnyardy flavor. The aroma and taste were similar to many of the other ripe washed rind cheeses we've tried - Limburger, Stinking Bishop, etc. But again, we need to track down a young version.