Two Northern Ireland farmhouse cheesemakers scooped gold and silver at the Irish Cheese Awards

Two Northern Irish farmhouse cheesemakers have scooped honours at the 2024 Irish Cheese Awards.

During a prestigious ceremony hosted by CÁIS, the Association of Irish Farmhouse Cheesemakers, Mike’s Fancy Cheese from Co. Down and Dart Mountain Cheese in Co. Londonderry took home gold and silver awards.

Made in Newtownards by cheemaker and cheesemonger, Mike Thomson, Young Buck was named as the winner (Gold award) of the ‘Blue Cheese’ category.

Thomson went from cheese enthusiast at Arcadia Deli in Belfast to a cheese making student at the School of Artisan Food, in Nottinghamshire. Upon graduating he gained experience from some of the UK’s leading artisan cheese makers, before going on to become head cheese maker at Sparkenhoe Farm.

With the desire to produce his own cheese within Northern Ireland, Michael turned to crowdfunding platform, Seedrs. This led to him being supported by friends and backed by 98 investors, which in turn allowed him to start developing his own product.

The result of all of his hard work and endeavour is ‘Young Buck’, which has a delicate tropical and salty flavour with peppery spicing towards the blue end. It is made in the Stilton style, but as a younger version - hence its name. Its sublime and wonderfully creamy texture is the result of a highly skilled cheese maker combined with a quality material: raw, unpasteurised cow’s milk, which he sources from Smyth McCann’s herd of 150 Holstein Friesian cows.

Northern Ireland was also proudly represented at the 2024 Irish Cheese Awards by Dart Mountain Cheese, whose ‘Carraig Bán’, a light, fresh and creamy handmade goat’s cheese with a slight lemony taste and a delicate rind, was awarded a Silver in the ‘Fresh/Soft Cheese (Goat Milk)’ category.

Dart Mountain Cheese is located in Sperrin Mountains. It was established in June 2010 by Julie Hickey. Involved in the food industry for over 18 years both as a chef and a restaurant owner, Julie developed a strong interest in cheese and since 2008 has attended a number of cheese production courses across the UK and Ireland.

In June 2012, Julie and her husband, Kevin, decided to pursue their passion for cheese by converting a disused farm shed into a modern approved food unit – incorporating a modern production kitchen, a cheese production area and specially constructed cheese maturing rooms to facilitate the controlled ageing of their cheese.

Two years later, in June 2014, the couple officially launched their first cheese, ‘Sperrin Blue’, in Northern Ireland. And, in October of the same year they released their second cheese, ‘Dart Mountain Dusk’, after which several more cheeses have been successfully developed.

Julie and Kevin, who source the goat’s milk for their cheese from Kilgort Goat Farm, neighbours of theirs in the Sperrins, remain committed to producing their cheese in small batches and following traditional processes. Cheese wheels are turned every couple of days, and carefully rubbed down once a week to maintain the rind of the cheese in peak form.

The biennial celebration of Ireland’s farmhouse cheesemakers, now in its 10th year, named winners across 17 distinct categories, culminating in naming one winner as this year’s ‘Supreme Champion’. This followed a rigorous judging process that was undertaken by a high calibre panel of Irish and international cheese experts at Teagasc’s Ashtown Food Research Centre last month.

Together, the 13 judges tasted 175 different cheeses produced by 43 businesses located across the island of Ireland from Dart Mountain to Durrus, and Arklow to Aillwee Cave. Each cheese was individually scored on aroma, flavour, body, texture, and overall appearance in order to select this year’s worthy winners.