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Why this maker matters
If an American knows one Bavarian cheese, it’s probably Cambozola — and Cambozola is Hofmeister. This is the family company that married Camembert to Gorgonzola, named the child after a Roman settlement, and sold it to the world as “blue brie.” It’s also Bavaria’s most international cheesemaker, exporting far beyond Germany from a village outside Kempten.
The story
1908: cheesemaker Julius Hirschle and wholesaler Leopold Immler found a dairy in the Allgäu. Their Camembert develops a distinctive mushroom aroma — Champignon, French for mushroom — and the name sticks to the company itself.
1951: brothers Joseph and George Hofmeister acquire the dairy. It stays in the family and grows into an international company without leaving Lauben.
1983: the company launches its strangest, most successful idea — a triple-cream cheese ripened with both white bloomy rind (Penicillium camemberti) and blue veins (Penicillium roqueforti). Cambozola. The Black Label, longer-aged and deeper-veined, would take the 2012 World Cheese Awards Grand Champion title.
The cheeses
- Cambozola Classic & Black Label — the flagship; full entry →
- Rougette Bavarian Red — triple-cream washed-rind with a paprika-red rind; spotlight →
- Champignon Camembert — the mushroom-aroma original that named the company
- St. Mang Limburger & Romadur — the washed-rind bricks; Limburger → · Romadur →
- Grand Noir and the Hofmeister specialty lines
Finding it in America
The best-distributed Bavarian cheese in the US, full stop. Champignon North America, Inc. (456 Sylvan Ave, Englewood Cliffs, NJ 07632) is the exclusive importer. Whole Foods lists Cambozola Black Label; Trader Joe’s has carried Cambozola; plus regional chains (The Fresh Grocer), specialty cheese shops, and German-importer webshops. The company runs a Destini product locator on its site and in-store Fine Cheese Sampling Events.
Visiting
No public tour information could be confirmed.
Related: Cambozola · Rougette spotlight · Limburger