Welcome to Gohl in the Emmental valley, welcome to the Gohl cheese dairy!

Founded in 1823, the Gohl cheese dairy is one of the oldest Emmental AOP cheese dairies in the Emmental, now in its 4th generation, and is also the region's most important producer of sheep and goat cheese.

Green hills and lush meadows

The Emme river valley is not only famous for its green hills and lush meadows, the quality of its water and the purity of its air, but above all for its centuries old cheese culture. The king of cheeses, Emmentaler AOP, the largest cheese in the world at 100 kg, comes from here.

Founded in 1823, the Gohl cheese dairy is one of the oldest Emmentaler AOP cheese dairies of Switzerland and also the region’s most important producer of sheep and goat milk cheese. From the fresh raw milk supplied daily by 80 dairy farmers from hay and grass feeding only, top-quality cheese is produced in state-of-the-art production facilities under the three product brands EMMENTALER AOP, DE GOHL and SPITZEBÄRG, hard, semi-hard and soft cheese, as well as numerous cheese specialties for third parties (private label).

Käserei Gohl AG | Products made from cow's milk

Cow milk cheese

The milk for our cheese comes from cows that feed mainly on grass and herbs and free pasturing in summer

Käserei Gohl AG | Products made from sheep's milk

Sheep milk cheese

Sheep cheese is a special delicacy that has been produced at the Gohl cheese dairy for several decades.

Käserei Gohl AG | Products made from goat's milk

Goat milk cheese

We produce the semi-hard and soft cheeses from goat milk using organic Bud and conventional milk.

EMMENTALER AOP

The real 100 kg king of cheeses, traditionally produced according to an old recipe in the Emmental, in the Emme valley in the state of Bern.

DE GOHL

The “DE GOHL” is a wonderfully creamy, large 30 kg hard cheese, very similar in shape, consistency and taste to the classic Gruyère.

SPITZEBÄRG

An important pillar of the Gohl cheese dairy is the production of finest semi-hard and soft cheeses under the name Spitzebärg. This was the name of the castle in the Gohl of the Teutonic Knights around the year 1000.

Company portrait Käserei Gohl AG

The Swiss organic, Demeter and Halal-certified Gohl cheese dairy is one of the oldest and one of the last 10 Emmentaler AOP cheeseries in the Emmental, in the original home of the world-famous king of cheeses. Founded in 1823 and owned by the Guggisberg family since 1912, the traditional cheese craft has been practiced and cultivated for generations. In 2016, the new building and the new production facilities were inaugurated: with 3 production lines for hard, semi-hard and soft cheese, the Gohl cheese dairy is one of the largest and most modern cheese dairies in the world.

The cheese dairy History Milk farmers Production Employees

The cheese dairy

Founded in 1823 and family-owned for 4 generations
Licensed producer of AOP Emmentaler since 1912
Bio Suisse, Demeter and Halal certified
One of only 10 Emmentaler AOP cheese dairies left in the Emme valley
Cheese made from silage-free grass and hay milk from 80 family farms no more than 25 km away
2016 Opening of new building with 3 production lines and an annual capacity of 1,000 tons of cheese
Experienced team of master cheesemakers and highly qualified dairy technologists
Own apprenticeship training system

History

An important date for the cheese dairy was the year 1823, when it was reorganized. Samuel Gerber and Peter Strahm are mentioned as the first two master cheesemakers. In 1912, Hans Guggisberg came to the Gohl to work as a cheesemaker. He came from a family of cheesemakers in the Schwarzenburgerland.

Moderne Käseproduktion in der Käserei Gohl, Langnau, Emmental – Tradition und Geschichte

After the death of his successor Ernst Guggisberg in 1966, Hans Guggisberg took over the cheese dairy in 1967. In the winter of 1975/76, the existing premises of the cheese dairy were renovated and equipped with the latest technology. Sheep cheese has also been produced at the Gohl since 1984, followed later by the equally successful production of goat cheese. In 1998, Hans' son Samuel Guggisberg joined the business and finally took it over in 2008. The current cheese dairy was rebuilt from scratch in 2016. Today, Käserei Gohl is the largest producer of Emmental AOP, sheep and goat cheese in the region.

Milk farmers

The best milk in the world

The flower and hay milk of the lush Emmental hills is perhaps the best milk in the world. Organic and Demeter milk is also processed at Gohl. You can taste the hay in the winter milk, the fresh grass in spring and the mountain herbs in summer in the milk and cheese from Gohl. The requirements of the authorities and the cheese dairy regarding sustainable animal farming with silage-free feeding, are very strict for the dairy farmers. The milk from the milk suppliers is checked daily at the cheese dairy on delivery. Compliance with the statutory hygiene regulations on each farm is constantly monitored. The quality and protein content determine the price per kg of milk that the farmer receives from the cheesemaker. Cheese production from raw milk is the most original form of cheese production, a recipe that has been handed down from generation to generation for a very long time. It places great demands on the cheesemaker's intuition and skill, as well as on hygiene. The raw milk is a completely natural product and changes in quantity and composition depending on the weather and the cows feed or, depending on the season, sometimes on a daily basis. It is our challenge to produce the best cheese every day under these conditions.

Käserei Gohl | Cheese made from goat milk

Käserei Gohl | Cheese made from sheep milk

Käserei Gohl | Cheese made from cow milk

Käserei Gohl | Milk delivery by dairy farmer

Our dairy farmers

80 dairy farmers, including 32 organic or Demeter-certified farms, deliver fresh milk to the Gohl cheese dairy every day. We only use fresh milk from regional farms that we know personally and whose quality standards we trust. Every bite of our cheese tells the story of the love and dedication that went into its production. The 7 sheep milk suppliers are all organic farms, so all Gohl sheep cheeses are certified organic. 18 goat milk farmers from the region, 7 of which are certified organic, supply the milk for goat cheese production. These farms, some of which are very small, are often located at high altitudes in the upper Emmental in a scenic area with popular excursion destinations. The climate prevailing in this area determines the characteristic pre-Alpine flora, which has been ideal for dairy farming for centuries: green fodder from mountain meadows rich in herbs and flowers for milk of the highest quality with the typical characteristics that give the cheese its aromatic, spicy taste.

Production

Traditional craftsmanship and high-tech production

At the Gohl cheese dairy, cheeses of the highest quality are made from cow, sheep and goat milk using centuries-old knowledge and constantly refined recipes in state-of-the-art production facilities. Production began in the new cheese dairy building in summer 2016. Three modern, high-capacity production lines are now available and enable the efficient production of hard, semi-hard and soft cheeses. Almost 10 million liters of milk are processed in the Gohl cheese dairy every year. In the gleaming copper cheese vats, over 600 tons of cheese per year are produced in the most modern facilities according to old tradition.

Käserei Gohl | Weide an Bach im Emmental

Water

In the Emmental, the air is pure and the water is clear. In addition to milk, a lot of water is also needed to make cheese. In Gohl we still have the purest water, from the springs in the hills behind the cheese dairy. The cheese dairy requires 30,000 liters of water per day for cheese production and cleaning the production facilities.

Quality assurance and certifications

Swiss cheese dairies and their milk suppliers, the dairy farmers, are probably the most strictly controlled milk and cheese producers by authorities and associations. The bacteriological requirements of Swiss food law are the strictest in the world. Daily laboratory analyses, rigorous hygiene barriers and strict reporting form the basis for quality assurance in production at the Gohl cheese dairy. The cheese dairy is Bio Suisse-certified and has also been awarded the Demeter certificate. Since 2024, production has also been Halal-certified and Kosher-certified production is also possible. Käserei Gohl is an internationally licensed Emmentaler Switzerland AOP cheese dairy and a member of Fromarte, the association of commercial cheese dairies in Switzerland.

Employee competence

Master cheesemaker Samuel Guggisberg is the 4th generation to run the cheese dairy. A highly qualified team of dairy technologists and cheese experts around master cheesemaker and operations manager and (testing expert) Hansueli Neuenschwander.