Rauchkäse — the Cheese That Went Through the Smokehouse

Bavaria smokes its cheese the way it brews its beer: with conviction and local wood. Rauchkäse — smoked cheese — is semi-soft cow’s-milk cheese aged a few weeks, then smoked over Bavarian birch and spruce until it turns dense, golden, and unmistakable. The most famous of them is named for a man who learned the craft from monks.

The story

Basils is Bergader’s smoked-cheese line — five varieties made to the original recipes of Basil Weixler, the dairy entrepreneur who founded the company in 1902 (the brand was formerly known as Almzeit Alpenkäse). Weixler is said to have learned the smoking method from Trappist monks at Rotthalmünster Abbey around 1902, then built a business on it. A century-plus later, Basils remains the reference point: the smoked cheese against which Bavaria’s others are measured.

What it tastes like

Dense, soft, compact — then the smoke arrives. Smoky, spicy, salty, with the creamy base still present underneath the birch-and-spruce character. It’s a flavor that reads as hearty and old-world without any harshness; the smoking is craft, not campfire.

Flavor profile: intensity medium-high · smokiness high · salt medium-high · creaminess medium
Aging: typically a few weeks before smoking · Texture: dense, soft, compact

How to serve it

Melt it — over gratins, in a raclette, anywhere you’d want smoke to do the talking. Or slice it thick for snacking; it needs no accompaniment beyond good bread. Room temperature to let the smoke breathe.

Drink with it: A dark German beer is the classic call — and the connoisseur move is smoke-on-smoke with a Bamberg Rauchbier, the beechwood-smoked lager that meets the cheese on its own terms. Prefer wine? A dry white holds its own.

Finding it in America

Basils’ US footprint follows Bergader’s importer network (Schuman Cheese, exclusive since 2017) — ask at specialty cheese counters. Smoked cheeses travel well, so German importers and European delis are worth checking even where the brand isn’t on national shelves.