Tipperary producers secure major win at British Cheese Awards
The matured Cashel Blue set it apart for the panel of 60 industry expert judges.
The Cashel farmhouse cheesemakers of Fethard, Co Tipperary, are celebrating their Reserve Championship win at the British Cheese Awards, with only one other cheese out of 600 entries judged superior to Cashel Blue.
A spokesperson for the Co Tipperary company said the texture of their matured Cashel Blue set it apart for the panel of 60 industry expert judges, and it was a huge honour to also win the Best Irish Cheese and Best Blue Cheese titles at the awards for cheesemakers from England, Wales, Scotland and Ireland.
They were bettered only by Cote Hill Snowdrop, a new cheese, made by the Davenport family who have been milking cows in the Lincolnshire wolds for three generations.
The story of Cashel Blue, and Beechmount Farm at Fethard, goes back to 1979, when Louis and Jane Grubb bought a dairy herd of 90 cows. In 1983, they were founder members of CAIS, the new association of Irish farmhouse cheesemakers.
In 1984, the first Cashel Blue was ready for the market, the very first Irish blue cheese. Award after award followed, and export success in the UK, underscored when Queen Elizabeth II was served Cashel Blue at a state banquet during her visit to Ireland in 2012.Â
Louis and Jane’s daughter, Sarah, and her husband Sergio Furno, got involved in 2004, bringing their extensive experience in the wine trade to the work at Beechmount Farm.
In the 2024 British Cheese Awards, Cashel Blue also won a first in class award for blue cow cheese of over 12 weeks.
Also featuring among the awards champions was Killeen Farmhouse of Portumna, Co Galway, winning the best goat cheese title (not for the first time) with their Killeen goat mature product. Killeen goat fenugreek cheese also did well in the class judging.
Leitrim Hill Creamery, where Lisa Gifford and her family have produced goat cheese since 2016 near Carrick-on-Shannon, won the Aged Lactic cheese class with their Aghaslane Bronze cheese.
Third in this class was the St Tola Karst cheese from the St. Tola Goat Cheese Farm at Ennistymon, Co Clare.
Leitrim Hill Creamery also did well in the class awards with their Cnoc Liatroma and Sliabh An Larainn cheeses, and in a new cheeses class with Sliabh An Larainn.
In the class for goat cheese of up to six months, Boyne Valley Farmhouse Cheese of Co Meath dominated with their Boyne Valley Bán and Rathkenny cheeses. It was nearly an Irish clean sweep, with Killeen Farmhouse placed fourth and fifth. Judges also made Boyne Valley Bán a runner-up in a semi-soft class.
Coolattin Cheddar of Co Carlow featured prominently in the class for vintage traditional cheddar.
Meanwhile, in the 35th World Championship Cheese Contest hosted by the Wisconsin Cheese Makers Association in the state capital, Madison, the US arm of a leading Irish dairy company excelled.
Glanbia Nutritionals of Twin Falls, Idaho, took all three awards in the class for mild to medium traditional waxed cheddar. The company also won the classes for reduced sodium cheeses and for pepper-flavoured mild heat Monterey Jack, and featured in the class awards for medium- and high-heat pepper-flavoured Monterey Jack.
Out of 3,302 entries in the 2024 World Championship Cheese Contest, judges narrowed the field to just 20 finalists in the search for the world champion.
American exhibitors were disappointed, with the Hornbacher cheese of Michael Spycher in Bern, Switzerland, declared the champion and Artikaas Vintage Lot 18 from Dutch Cheese Makers, Friesland, in the Netherlands the first runner-up.
The second runner-up was Batch #17 from The Farm at Doe Run in Pennsylvania, sparing the blushes of American cheesemakers.
