Armagh artisan cheese wins UK award for quality and taste

Cheese experts in Britain reckon the best cheese in Northern Ireland is made in Portadown by farm-based Ballylisk of Armagh, an artisan producer which came out on top in the recent in UK Virtual Cheese Awards 2022 for its Triple Rose product.

The cheese, produced in a small creamery in Portadown by Mark Wright and his team from milk sourced from the family’s multi-award winning dairy farm at Tandragee, is already popular with delis and farm shops across Northern Ireland, the Irish Republic and also in the prestigious food hall at the iconic Fortnum and Mason upmarket store in London’s Piccadilly.

The Armagh cheese, in addition, is supplied to Heritage Cheese, the main cheese specialist at London’s famed Borough Market.

The Viirtual Cheese Award for the best in Northern Ireland is the latest in a host of endorsements for the Armagh cheese since the launch of the brand in 2016 by the Wright family, one of the most respected in Irish dairy farming.

Triple Rose is described by Mark as “a circular, white mould, single herd, full–flavoured cheese”. “Its decadent richness is balanced by salty, lemony notes. It is made from pasteurised cow’s milk with added cream,” he adds.

In addition to Ballylisk’s strong business on the island of Ireland for the multi-award winning Triple Rose, the artisan producer supplies a version of the cheese to Aldi Ireland under the Rokerby brand.

Mark, who formed the cheese business with late brother Dean, welcomed the Virtual Cheese Award, saying: “We are thrilled to receive this important recognition which is a tremendous endorsement of the quality and taste of our Triple Rose cheese. The award will be enormously beneficial to our marketing endeavours as we seek to build further sales especially in Great Britain and the Republic, our most important external markets.”

The Virtual Cheese Awards was co-founded in 2020 by British cheese and dairy consultant Sarah de Wit to celebrate and support the UK’s cheese industry during the pandemic.

The judging process is completely transparent and open to everyone, regardless of whether they are a curd connoisseur or a rookie. The unique process helps celebrate creativity and gives cheesemakers valuable feedback from some of the most influential cheese experts in the country.

Sarah explains: “We only started the Virtual Cheese Awards as a one-off in the pandemic so it’s so amazing to see how it has grown in its third year. The passion, prowess and perfectionist nature of the British cheese industry was woven into every aspect of the 2022 awards and was a showcase for how our industry is the best in the world bar none”.

The awards are unique as they allow entrants to see their cheese judged live and get instant feedback. 

​The purpose of the awards is to: create a sustainable, inclusive and transparent cheese awards that support and celebrate UK cheesemakers, from the grassroots up; create a unique and inspiring cheese awards that is focused on celebrating the diversity and quality of British dairy as well as nurturing talent to help promote a sustainable and thriving industry to consumers; generate publicity, awareness and a route to market for entrants; and provide detailed and transparent feedback to cheese producers from the industry’s leading experts.

The initial Triple Rose cheese was developed by the company with help from the Food Technology Centre at the College of Agriculture, Food and Rural Enterprise at Loughry, near Cookstown and was launched at Balmoral Show in 2018, winning the ‘Best New Product’ award.

The soft, triple cream cheese also won two Gold Stars in the 2019 Great Taste Awards and was a finalist in the 2018 Great British Cheese Awards. It has also proved a winner with judges at the Blas na hEireann Awards, the Irish National Food Awards.

A fifth generation farmer, Mark points out that the company has full control over the production process from ‘farm to fork’. “We also grow our own grain to feed the cattle and breed our own cows,” he explains.

The 200-acre farm has been in the Wright family since 1820 and is home to one of the most respected dairy herds of pedigree Friesian cattle in Ireland.

Ballylisk is also the only artisan cheesemaker in Northern Ireland to be using milk sourced directly from its own milk pool.

Ballylisk, furthermore, developed the first creamy brie, Single Rose, in Northern Ireland since the Ballybrie and Ballyblue products handcrafted at Fivemiletown Creamery in Tyrone until its shock closure in 2019.

In addition to the original Triple Rose and now Single Rose, the small creamery has produced a Triple Rose blue and a Triple Rose washed in Bramley apple juice from Armagh orchards. It has also collaborated with another local producer to develop relishes to accompany the cheese.