Welcome back to another cheese review, folks. I got a lot of positive responses to my last one, so I’m glad to continue with more reviews. If you see me around, recommend some H-E-B cheeses! Please remember: I’m basing all my price judgments on the perspective of a poor college student, and I have no professional experience tasting cheeses. With that, please take all my recommendations with a grain of salt.

This week, we’ve got three more cheeses, this time with a European theme. First, we have two cheeses with a British Isle theme, Old Brooklyn Cheese Co.’s Oscar Wilde aged Irish cheddar cheese and Wensleydale with cranberries from Coombe Castle, followed by a French brie from Eiffel Tower (which is, ironically enough, actually a French-Canadian brand).

I began my tasting with Wensleydale. For those who don’t know what a Wensleydale is, I didn’t either. It’s self-described as an “English dessert cheese with a burst of strawberries” named after the town in North Yorkshire. Turns out, they’re quite right. It was surprisingly sweet, but not overpoweringly so. The cheese itself was dry and crumbly, almost like a feta, but the cranberries held it together. Speaking of, thanks to the dry texture of the cheese, the cranberries nicely complemented the texture and flavor. This would go well on crackers as a meal finisher or charcuterie board complement. This one goes for $7.12 for 6 ounces, which isn’t bad for such a delightful cheese. Overall, a really surprising win with this one. I give it four out of five goats.

Next was the Oscar Wilde cheddar. I won’t lie, seeing the Irish poet’s face slapped on a cheese was a bit of a shock (almost as much as his jokes!). Even more of a shock was that Old Brooklyn Cheese Co. is from Cleveland, Ohio. I can’t escape. Unlike last week’s cheddar, this one was crumbly. Not as much as the Wensleydale, but more than anticipated. The flavor, however, was still creamy, and held together well. Other than Wilde’s face on the plastic, though, not much to write home about. At $4.32 for under 4 ounces, I was a little disappointed, especially considering last week’s cheddar. For the gimmick, I’ll rate it three out of five goats. I know that’s less than the Artisan cheddar. I couldn’t help but compare the two cheddars. 

Last, I tried the brie. Now, I’m a sucker for brie. It’s my favorite cheese, although not too versatile. However, this brie was, unfortunately, all too average. The tang was present but not popping, and the inside part of the wheel, which is usually pretty viscous, was too solid for my tastes. The rind was honestly the best part, giving me a dry contrast to the not-tangy-enough inside. This one was $5.18 for around 7 ounces. Not a bad price. And not a bad cheese, per se, but it didn’t stand out. That being said, I ate the whole wheel in one sitting. Three and a half goats out of five. 

Now, you might be wondering: “Max, why are all these cheeses getting threes? We want some action! Give us bad cheeses! Give us great cheeses! Let us see something that knocked your socks off!” I get it. You want headlines. Just wait for next week, dear reader. I’m going for the weird cheeses, the expensive cheeses. You want it, you got it (no one asked for this except me). 

Tune in next week for our first editor guest star. I know I promised that last week. It didn’t work out. 

Is there as ‘gouda’ cheese as these?