Heinrichsthaler Bierkäse
- Producer
- Heinrichsthaler
- Country
- Germany
- Region
- Saxony
- Size
- 5.25 in diameter x 5 in height
- Weight
- 4 lbs
- Website
- www.heinrichsthaler.com
- Milk
- Cow
- Treatment
- Pasteurised
- Classification
- Firm
- Rennet
- Vegetable
- Rind
- Waxed
Flavor Added - Flavor
- Flavor added to paste
Flavor added to rind
In 1880, Agathe Zeis founded the Lehrmeierei Heinrichsthal cheese company in order to educate local women in the surrounding farms of the Heinrichsthal Valley in cheesemaking practices. Today the company, located in Radeberg in Saxony, has grown into a mid-sized cheesemaking cooperative. German product importer Fond O’ Foods is the exclusive importer of the cheese to the U.S.
This Bierkäse is supposedly based on an old recipe that dates back to the 1990s. A bit of local Radeberger beer is added to fresh curd before the cheese is formed in a barrel shape. The little “kegs” of cheese are rubbed with a mixture of beer and salt during an initial aging period, then covered in a black wax coating as ripening continues.
Tasting Notes
With buttery, yeasty and vegetal notes, the wax-coated, barrel-shaped cheese has a powerful but pleasant flavor that reminds us of crouton-topped French onion soup or an onion bagel.
Pairings
It would go fantastically with a malty German beer, of course.
