igourmet Stinking Bishop (7.5 ounce)

This is Britain's smelliest cheese. In Wallace and Grommit: the Curse of the Were-Rabbit a plate of Stinking Bishop cheese revives Wallace from the dead. I recalled it from the movie and after spending a week vacationing with a nine and seven year old immersed in their body part and odor humor, I had to have some. The odor smells like what I imagine durian fruit would smell like - a blend of feces and rotting flesh - other people have compared it to old gym socks, a locker room or an outhouse. It is marvelously creamy and buttery with a touch of bitter, much milder than the smell and quite delicious. I had it with a bottle of Allagash Victor - an ale brewed with red grapes - and the two paired wonderfully. The cheese originated in 1972 when farmer Charles Martell and son started making cheese at Laurel Farm, Dymock, Gloucestershire in the South of England. They started with the milk of their Glouchester heifers. They have a 300 gallon cheese tank and manage to make 123 pounds of cheese per day. They get the stink by washing the cheese with perry made from the Stinking Bishop pear. The recipe most likely originated with the Cistercians during the Middle Ages. The cheese is soft, smelly and at room temperature runny. Some people compare the taste to a mild vinegar - it might evoke a mild, all malt vinegar and it has a bitter aftertaste. I will buy it again.

A very good ripened cheese. Although the aroma is a bit strong, the flavor is wonderful. All tasters liked it. Their recommendation is to eat it, not smell it. It should be allowed to reach room temperature before being enjoyed. We preferred it on bread or unsalted crackers.

Creamy mild, buttery, I was expecting a strong pungent odor, I found it to be mild, I love how the residual scent that sticks to my fingers for the rest of the day... I guess it's not for everyone. My new favorite.

Well packaged - did not taste like the other stinking bishops we have bought at our local cheese store, but was fresh and well packaged.

Be aware that this cheese arrives as a wedge already cut - see product description. Also, it arrived at room temperature. The ice pack had completely melted. Not a problem for me but I would prefer to buy the whole wheel of cheese in its stinky, washed rind glory.

There was not much stink, probably not old enough. But the cheese itself was among the best I've ever had.