First ale washed cheese from Northern Irish artisan producer

Northern Irish artisan producer Dart Mountain Cheese has teamed up with a local craft brewery, Northbound, to produce Ireland's first ale washed cheese. Both companies are based in Northern Ireland's north west region in county Derry. Dart Mountain, located near Dungiven in the rural Sperrin Mountains, has already developed a series of speciality cheeses including Sperrin Blue and Kilcreen, an Emmental style Alpine. The new cheese, known as Banagher Bold, named after the townland in which it is being produced, is semi-hard and made from pasteurised cows' milk sourced from nearby farms. It is matured for up to six months and washed in an India Pale Ale (ABV 4.5%), known as Number 26, produced by the recently establishedNorthbound craft brewery in Derry city, an initiative by master brewer David Rodgers and wife Martina. The water used to produce theale is sourced from the Banagher Dam in the Sperrins. Cheese maker Jill Hickey, who founded Dart Mountain in 2012 with husband Kevin, describes the new Banagher Bold cheese as having "a wonderful golden colour and a very rich flavour". "Developing a beer washed cheese has been an objective for some time. I wanted it to be a genuinely Northern Irish cheese using local milk and a craft beer brewed here. The branding that uses maroon also reflects the colours of the local sports team. As a result, Banagher Bold reflects the history, people and resources of the region. "The launch of Northbound this year gave me an opportunity to start work on the cheese, something unique in Northern Ireland and probably throughout the island. "We are considering producing the new cheese in range of sizes including smaller individual packs," she adds. Formed in 2012, Dart Mountain, also named after a local mountain, already has two semi-hard blue cheeses on sale in Northern Ireland and in Britain - Sperrin Blue and Dart Mountain Dusk, the latter being an ash rubbed cheese and a bronze medal winner in the World Cheese Awards. Earlier in the year, the company also successfully launched its Alpine product, Kilcreen, the first of its kind in Northern Ireland. All the cheeses are produced in small batches in a purpose-built production and maturation unit to ensure consistent quality in a purpose-build unit on a small rural estate owned by the family. The company now includes Harrods in London among its clients. The husband and wife team also own Tamnagh Foods which has won GreatTaste Awards for its handmade granolas that are now being stocked by Harrods in London.