The L’Amuse Brabander is a goat cheese from Holland. It is made by the same people who did the L’Amuse Signature Gouda which I reviewed over a year ago. The name sounded familiar to me when I picked it up—I almost thought I had reviewed it. I did not—if I had, I would certainly not have forgotten it.

It’s not a cheese one can simply forget easily.

It looks like it’d be a simple creamy goat gouda-like cheese. It’s a solid brick of white. And it is creamy and buttery. But that just is the garnish so to speak. The taste comes in a wave that is dotted with little bursts of salt. It’s like a salty wave that courses over your tongue and brings a nice all-around savory-sweet note with it. The creaminess subsides when this rush of salt hits, but it’s still there curbing it so it isn’t overpowering. Usually, when a cheese has salt crystals, you can kind of see it in the body of the cheese. Not so with the L’Amuse Brabander. It is as if the salt crystals were tiny and embedded into the body. It’s a complete surprise when you try it.

As for pairings with this complex cheese, I would suggest eating it alone. This is to get the full experience of its flavor. But grapes seemed to work well it. As it’s on the saltier side, anything sweet is going to work well. I didn’t try it with any jam, but I’d imagine it would be quite tasty together, though a careful thing to balance.

I give a full recommendation for this cheese. It’s complex, nuanced, and tasty. What else do you want?