Rembrandt: My “Gateway” to Specialty Cheeses

First: “Gateway” in reference to specialty cheese is a term coined by Liz Thorpe and is the premise of her Best-Selling (and if it’s not, it should be) The Book of Cheese. When training at Murray’s Liz used the phrase for “approachable” cheeses to introduce the customer to new and more exotic (or was it erotic?) cheeses. The concept is simple but for educating customers and cheese professionals, it is profound. On my list of books you “must read” to increase your Cheese IQ or prepare for the ACS CCP Exam, The Book of Cheese is #2. Second only to Max McCalman’s Mastering Cheese (which remains the Bible of cheese education, in my opinion).

As I have shared many times, Rembrandt is the first “specialty cheese” that opened the door to the world of cheese and contributed to my current journey. Back in the mid-90s before pairing events were popular, the girlfriend (is it still okay to use the term “girlfriend”?) of a friend invited The Man and me to a wine and cheese pairing class at Wally’s in West Los Angeles. At the time (and perhaps still is) Wally’s was one of the premiere wine merchants in LA and stacked the wines in wooden cases in an organized chaotic way. We tasted six cheeses which she paired with six wines. The only two I remember from the evening are Stilton and Rembrandt.

At the time we spent our weekends in Palm Springs and not long after the Wally’s event another friend was having a party and I offered to bring the cheese. I called The Cheese Shop of Beverly Hills and by chance spoke with the owner, Norbert Wabnig. I shared the event at Wally’s and because he had provided the cheese, he knew immediately which two cheeses I wanted. I ordered a pound of each, Stilton and Rembrandt, which he shipped to Palm  Springs and the cheeses were the hit of the party… little did I know…

Fast forward into the next decade and I began my third (or fourth) career as a Cheese Steward in Washington State. The store I worked in was installing a specialty cheese kiosk and I had the opportunity to work with Rebecca, Marie and DPI specialist, Amy, to set the case. One of the cheeses in our inventory was Rembrandt and although through time I had forgotten its name, the moment I tasted it I was taken back to that night at Wally’s.

This morning while considering my post for today, I discovered I have never given Rembrandt its own stand-alone posting. And it deserves it. I have incorporated it into several postings over the years and today, the spotlight is entirely on Rembrandt.

Xtra Aged Rembrandt is one of my favorite cheeses and definitely my favorite Gouda (Parrano contains parmesan cultures). There are many sublime Goudas but for the money and accessibility, Rembrandt gets my vote. As Rembrandt ages its flavor profile develops into a butterscotch sweetness filled with tyrosine, those little amino acid (Protein) crystals filled with flavor and goodness. The eyes also may weep with what Juliana Uruburu calls “liquid gold”. Rembrandt is filled with all that goodness. Paired with bourbon and you don’t need anything else…

Gouda is a washed curd cheese; after separating the curd from the whey, the curds are washed and this step in the cheesemaking process creates a sweetness that becomes more pronounced as Gouda ages. Younger Goudas’ paste is flexible and as they age, the paste becomes brittle but still melts well. However, I prefer eating Rembrandt as a table cheese with some fruit and crackers. You really don’t need anything else.

Rembrandt is available in my cheese shop at Sweet Combs of Honey and in my Amazon Influencer storefront.

Were Spaulding Gray still with us, he would declare Rembrandt 4 Paws… because that’s all he had.

In addition to being a member of the Internationale Guilde des Fromagers (Jura and Garde) and an American Cheese Society Certified Cheese Professional, I am a Certified ServSafe Food Production Manager with certifications that also include ServSafe Certified Instructor and Proctor. I am available for cheese events, cheese program development, cheese training, food safety training and 3rd party food safety auditing. See my About Me and Resume pages for more details or call me at 360 921 9908 to discuss availability.

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