“Also known as Old Smales, Lyburn Farmhouse Cheesemakers’ Old Winchester is an older version of Winchester, on a previous page. This is now a much dryer harder and crystalline cheese, becoming more reminiscent of an old gouda with a distinctive nuttiness in flavour, however it is a product of evolution and need.
Because Old Winchester is made with a vegetarian rennet, on a number of occasions the cheese is being sold, and used as a vegetarian replacement for a hard Italian cheese, and yet can still be used as a table cheese, it has that bit more versatility. Some might argue that this English farmhouse cheese, is better than a hard Italian cheese, but I could not possibly comment.”
– Lyburn Farmhouse Cheesemakers