Explore the world of comté, basically a cave aged gruyere. Then never settle for a lesser cheese.
Modern comte often has some of its cream removed, as opposed to swiss gruyere, which does not. So they do settle for a lesser cheese in a way, in the larger scale production. The small batch beaufort d'ete, on the other hand, is a no compromise cheese, as is L'Etivaz.
In the US, emmi roth makes a great gruyere surchoix.