Weisslacker

Weisslacker or Beer cheese is a type of cheese that originated in Germany, but is now known worldwide. Also produced in America, mostly in Wisconsin, it is a pungent and salted cheese. It ripens for seven months in highly humid conditions and is related to Limburger cheese. Connoisseurs of this delicacy often take it with beer (sometimes dipping the cheese directly in their drinks), hence the name. Many find it too overpowering to serve with wine. This cheese is also served on small slices of rye or pumpernickel bread often with some sliced onion. It is a common item on pub and restaurant menus in the Czech Republic, the country with the highest per-capita beer consumption in the world. Weisslacker is also known as bierkäse, bierkaese, beer kaese and beer cheese. In addition, Weisslacker is a common ingredient in various breads, soups, and dips.

The smell of Weisslacker gives you the impression that it's almost alive and you want to beat it back with a stick. But that's before you taste it. The crumbly smear-ripened pasteurized cow's milk cheese is unlike anything we've ever tasted and as it breaks in your mouth, you'll realize that you already need another bite of this curious cheese. As for the Bavarians of Germany, they like to grate this cheese over spaetzle and enjoy hot odiferous noodles. The origin of the cheese comes from desperation actually. In 1874 during the French-Prussian war, there was a need to make cheeses that could age longer and have a better "shelf life". Thus Bavaria's Backsteiner recipe was adjusted and lo and behold Weisslacker was born.