Thanks Suzan
Stinky, The fun thing with Gouda is you can open it anywhere from 2 months to 4 years. The cheese takes a drastic transformation between those two dates.
My personal observations on Gouda tasting:
*3 Months: typical store-bought gouda taste. So it's very good
*4.5 to 5.5 months: Significantly sharper than 3 months. This is my personal go-to.
*7-9 months: Very sharp, but to me (and this may be just me), it lacks character. It's just a sharp cheese. I usually like sharp cheeses.
*10-14 months : ? ? ?
*16-24 months: OMG! It's somehow sweet and slightly cognac flavoured with a really rich sharpness to it. Amazing! May not be for everyone though
*24 months + Beyond : ? ? ?