# Limburger Cheese Is a Stinky Cliche; But How Does it Taste? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [August 27, 2012, 12:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/limburger-cheese-is-a-stinky-cliche-but-how-does-it-taste/632769 "2012-08-27T00:17:58Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 16\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Inner\_Stickler](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/inner_stickler/32/318_2.png) [@Inner\_Stickler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Inner_Stickler)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2013, 1:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/limburger-cheese-is-a-stinky-cliche-but-how-does-it-taste/632769/41 "2013-09-30T01:36:44Z")
The one time I had limburger, it was very inoffensive fresh out of the fridge. I forgot to put it away and went to bed and in the morning, it smelled like shit. So, I vote, just don’t ever let it get to room temp. ---
**Author:** ![dropzone](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dropzone/32/7515_2.png) [@dropzone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dropzone)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2013, 1:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/limburger-cheese-is-a-stinky-cliche-but-how-does-it-taste/632769/42 "2013-09-30T01:40:13Z")
Limburger may be milder, but do hot peppers taste as hot as they did when you were younger? Your taste buds have become old and jaded. ETA: Do they still put inch-thick slabs of Limburger on sandwiches in Monroe’s bars? ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2013, 1:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/limburger-cheese-is-a-stinky-cliche-but-how-does-it-taste/632769/43 "2013-09-30T01:44:53Z")
Oh, I should warn, though, in case anyone comes through town, don’t expect New Glarus quality beers here at Minhas (and holy shit New Glarus just keeps getting bigger and bigger). I didn’t have any beers that I thought were “great” or that I would recommend, but for $10, it was a fun little diversion in Monroe, and absolutely worth the cost of admission. It’s not the place to go to if you want to get in full beer-snob mode. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2013, 1:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/limburger-cheese-is-a-stinky-cliche-but-how-does-it-taste/632769/44 "2013-09-30T01:46:57Z")
> [@dropzone](#): > > Limburger may be milder, but do hot peppers taste as hot as they did when you were younger? Your taste buds have become old and jaded. That’s what I’m wondering, but it’s only been a year and a half since I last went! But that was the first time I had Limburger (although I’ve had a similar cheese called Palpusztai several times before, which I count as “Limburger” in my experience, as I couldn’t tell them apart if I wanted to), so maybe I knew what to expect. Or maybe Limburger actually is milder than the Palpusztai cheese I equate it with? It didn’t seem so last time I had it, though. > [@](#): > > ETA: Do they still put inch-thick slabs of Limburger on sandwiches in Monroe’s bars? It was a generous portion each of Limburger and Braunschweiger. It was thicker than I was expecting. [Here’s a photo](https://fbcdn-sphotos-b-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-ash3/1376985_10152006275823777_902448356_n.jpg). ---
**Author:** ![Glazer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a88e57/32.png) [@Glazer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Glazer)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2013, 2:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/limburger-cheese-is-a-stinky-cliche-but-how-does-it-taste/632769/45 "2013-09-30T02:12:49Z")
> [@FoieGrasIsEvil](#): > > To simulate the taste: after doing something sweaty and strenuous, take off your pants and underwear, place you head between your legs and take a huge whiff and taste of your taint. That is what Limburger tastes and smells like. > > You are so very welcome. It’s Sunday. I haven’t showered all weekend. I just took a tissue and swabbed. Not nearly as bad as Limburger. > [@dropzone](#): > > Limburger may be milder, but do hot peppers taste as hot as they did when you were younger? Your taste buds have become old and jaded. You can kill all your taste buds with radiation and grow new ones back. When I first started eating again after a year Ketchup was hot enough to make my forehead sweat. Veggies taste as bad as when I was a kid as well. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2013, 2:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/limburger-cheese-is-a-stinky-cliche-but-how-does-it-taste/632769/46 "2013-09-30T02:37:04Z")
> [@pulykamell](#): > > We were up through New Glarus earlier in the day, and stopped by the Octoberfest celebration where they were selling “limburger sliders” which were just little square White Castle-sized sandwiches of rye with Amish County Limburger cheese spread, and I had thought the same thing, but just wrote it down to it being made with the spread or the cheese? I bought a little tub of spread to take home as well, and I can’t quite smell that body odor funk I remember it having. OK, this one I’m just going to chalk up to it being a blend. I’m looking at the ingredients and it’s a mix of Limburger and White Cheddar (among other things.) So I’m guessing the White Cheddar makes up the bulk of the cheese part of the spread. I really don’t taste or smell any stink in it. As for the Baumgartner’s, that stink was there, just not as pronounced or extreme as my memories. I’m guessing the braunschweiger and onions just cut through it perfectly. I’m kicking myself now not for getting straight-up limburger to take home. ---
**Author:** ![Maastricht](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a88e57/32.png) [@Maastricht](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Maastricht)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2013, 6:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/limburger-cheese-is-a-stinky-cliche-but-how-does-it-taste/632769/47 "2013-09-30T06:42:58Z")
> [@ralph124c](#): > > I have another cheese question for you…I read once about a rather obscure cheese…made on the island of Texel. It was a sheep’s milk cheese…and it was cured by…get this…packing it in composted sheep manure (gack)! > Ever heard of this stuff? ralph124c, I missed your question. I never heard of a dung packed Texel cheese. I looked up and it does not seem to be a thing. Texel cheese only seems special because the sheep graze on floodplains with lots of salty plants. There exist several cheeses that are packed with ashes, though. Many with ash from a specific burnt wood. I have tasted those; [the ash makes sense as it conserves, solidifies the crust of soft cheeses, and gives an interesting, mild flavour.](http://cheese.about.com/od/cheesebasics/f/vegetable_ash.htm) ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2013, 6:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/limburger-cheese-is-a-stinky-cliche-but-how-does-it-taste/632769/48 "2013-09-30T06:45:09Z")
[Morbier](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Morbier_cheese) is another ash-cheese (with the ash running through the middle of the cheese) that’s a favorite of mine. ETA: Oh, I see it’s mentioned in that article, along with Humboldt Fog, another one of my favorites of this type. ---
**Author:** ![gaffa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e68b1a/32.png) [@gaffa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gaffa)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2013, 7:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/limburger-cheese-is-a-stinky-cliche-but-how-does-it-taste/632769/49 "2013-09-30T19:13:01Z")
> [@pulykamell](#): > > It was a generous portion each of Limburger and Braunschweiger. It was thicker than I was expecting. [Here’s a photo](https://fbcdn-sphotos-b-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-ash3/1376985_10152006275823777_902448356_n.jpg). This is off-topic, but if one lives in Chicago and loves liver sausage sandwiches, you need to get to [Cap’n Nemos](http://www.capnemos.com/03-completemenu.html). Their Conqueror sandwich is the best sub I’ve ever had. Here’s the ingredients: Liverwurst, Muenster Cheese, Salami, Eggs, Sauerkraut Dressing, Captain’s Secret Sauce, Lettuce, Tomato, Onion ---
**Author:** ![August\_West](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/august_west/32/18069_2.png) [@August\_West](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/August_West)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2013, 8:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/limburger-cheese-is-a-stinky-cliche-but-how-does-it-taste/632769/50 "2013-09-30T20:16:43Z")
> [@pulykamell](#): > > By the way, I did love that limburger & braunschweiger sandwich and am already craving it again. > > ETA: Oh, and that Minhas Brewery tour might have been the most generous brewery tour I’ve ever been on. $10 was basically all you can drink, and you get a glass and four bottles of beer and one of soda to take home with you. How the hell did I not notice Minhas (once Huber) was there before? Wow, I’m amazed you remembered my sandwich combo after a year! Now you have me craving one. The Minhas tour is definitely generous, but then again they are mostly making non-remarkable beers. Not that Huber was cranking out any liquid gold! ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2013, 8:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/limburger-cheese-is-a-stinky-cliche-but-how-does-it-taste/632769/51 "2013-09-30T20:37:50Z")
> [@August\_West](#): > > The Minhas tour is definitely generous, but then again they are mostly making non-remarkable beers. Not that Huber was cranking out any liquid gold! The one that takes me back is Huber Bock. I remember discovering it in the mid-90s in college, and for a beer as dirt cheap as it was (I can’t remember the price, but I seem to recall something silly like $5 a case) it was great bang-for-buck and drinkable. (At least I thought so. I couldn’t stand the BudMillCoors products back then like I could now.) It was also interesting to see all the contract brewing they do, including the Boatswain Double IPA for Trader Joe’s (which for $2 a bomber at 8.4%ABV does a decent job of, um, relaxing you, although leaves a bit to be desired on the tasting like an IPA, much less imperial IPA part). Apparently, according to them, they are the tenth largest brewery in the nation? I would never have guessed as their facilities don’t seem all that big. Hell, if I could find Huber Bock here for $8 a case (which would be about the equivalent today for $5/case in 1996), that’d be my cheap beer of choice. Wonder what it goes for in Wisconsin these days. Haven’t checked it out. Or is my $5/case memory way off? ---
**Author:** ![August\_West](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/august_west/32/18069_2.png) [@August\_West](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/August_West)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2013, 4:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/limburger-cheese-is-a-stinky-cliche-but-how-does-it-taste/632769/52 "2013-10-01T16:31:36Z")
I was in college in the mid 90s too and I would have remembered Huber Bock being $5 a case! Your memories of Huber Bock are definitely different from mine. Huber was on the same level as Rhinelander in the “I’ll drink it if it’s the only thing around and suffer the next day” camp. But I went to school at Stevens Point, so that was the cheap swill locally available ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2013, 4:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/limburger-cheese-is-a-stinky-cliche-but-how-does-it-taste/632769/53 "2013-10-01T16:39:34Z")
> [@August\_West](#): > > I was in college in the mid 90s too and I would have remembered Huber Bock being $5 a case! > > Your memories of Huber Bock are definitely different from mine. Huber was on the same level as Rhinelander in the “I’ll drink it if it’s the only thing around and suffer the next day” camp. But I went to school at Stevens Point, so that was the cheap swill locally available 🙂 Yeah, I just finished my two free cans of Huber Bock (it was bottles when I bought them in the 90s) and it’s not bad for what it is. I know that’s damning with faint praise, but I don’t mind this stuff. If it was priced at the Old Style level (my cheap beer of choice), I’d be buying it instead. The [ratebeer.com](http://ratebeer.com) people seem to give a 37 overall, which is a damned good score for a cheapo beer (typically, the macros score in the 0-5 level, although Old Style gets a 10 overall.) Rates higher than Shiner Bock by a good bit. (Just trying to compare apples-to-apples. Not saying either of these are best of class bocks by any stretch.) I know ratings sites have their biases, but I tend to use them as a sanity check. Like yesterday I cracked open the New Glarus Black Top IPA and was instantly “whoa…this is the best black IPA I’ve ever had…is it just me?” It wasn’t the top-rated one there, but 98 overall and 97 on style, so I’m not completely nuts. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2013, 4:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/limburger-cheese-is-a-stinky-cliche-but-how-does-it-taste/632769/54 "2013-10-01T16:45:55Z")
Also, at the time, I remember the most well-known and distributed craft brews being stuff like Pete’s Wicked and Samuel Adams. Huber Bock was better than any of the Pete’s stuff I had. Sam Adams’ output was far better than Huber’s, but the price points were significantly different. Maybe the Huber bock was $5 a 12-pack back then, but that seems expensive. I seem to remember it being around Old Style prices, and Old Style was something like $7-8 a 30-pack of cans back then. ---
**Author:** ![HenryDorsettCase](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/f19dbf/32.png) [@HenryDorsettCase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HenryDorsettCase)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2013, 5:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/limburger-cheese-is-a-stinky-cliche-but-how-does-it-taste/632769/55 "2013-10-02T17:04:43Z")
> [@HeyHomie](#): > > I’ve never been in any place that sells it (that I know of), so I’ve never had opportunity to taste it (or smell it, for that matter). > > Does it taste as bad as its reputation would suggest? Didn’t see this factoid anywhere in the thread, but according to Wiki, the cheese stinks so bad because it is ‘smeared’ with _brevibacterium linens_, the bacteria responsible for b.o. and foot odor. Dad (a 2d WW vet) used to eat it with bread and sardines. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2013, 5:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/limburger-cheese-is-a-stinky-cliche-but-how-does-it-taste/632769/56 "2013-10-02T17:24:39Z")
> [@HenryDorsettCase](#): > > Didn’t see this factoid anywhere in the thread, but according to Wiki, the cheese stinks so bad because it is ‘smeared’ with _brevibacterium linens_, the bacteria responsible for b.o. and foot odor. Dad (a 2d WW vet) used to eat it with bread and sardines. I briefly mention it in post #26, but not by name. It’s not just a factoid, though, it’s a fact. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/limburger-cheese-is-a-stinky-cliche-but-how-does-it-taste/632769.md?page=2)