Twin Golds for Fivemiletown at International Cheese Awards
Fivemiletown Creamery, Northern Ireland's pioneer of award winning soft cheeses, has been successful at the world's most important event for the industry - the International Cheese Awards, the results of which were announced recently.
The County Tyrone company, a specialist in handcrafted soft cheeses, gained the following awards at the prestigious International Cheese Awards, which are held annually at Nantwich in Cheshire:
Gold for Ballybrie - a natural soft brie made from high quality milk sourced mostly from farms in the Clogher Valley in Tyrone and Fermanagh;
Gold for Ballyoak in the Naturally Smoked Category -Ballyoak is a soft brie naturally smoked slowly over oakwood chippings in the creamery's kiln;
Silver for Ballyoak in the Best Irish Cheese Category
The global cheese event, now in its 115 year, is the high point in the Nantwich Agricultural Show, among the most important in the farming calendar in Britain.
Fivemiletown's cheese gained the prestigious awards in a field of cheese from around 600 mostly artisan makers from 24 countries.
Peter Dunlop, Fivemiletown Creamery's marketing managing, commenting on the company's latest success, says: "Winning at Nantwich is a tremendous endorsement of the quality and innovation which underpins all our cheese. The Nantwich show is respected as the world's biggest cheese event and one which is watched very closely by major retailers and independent delis.
"These prestigious awards follow our most recent success in gaining the Outstanding New Product Award for our unique Irish BoilieGoat's Cheese Pearls at the Summer Fancy Food Show in New York in June.
"The awards at Nantwich and New York will be tremendously important to our marketing activities in Britain, other parts of Europe and the US."
Judging for the International Cheese Awards, which attracts around 40,000 visitors annually to Dorfold Park in Cheshire, was undertaken by a panel of industry experts.
Established in 1898, Fivemiletown Creamery is among the oldest Irish creameries and one of the first in Northern Ireland. The creamery is a farmer owned co-operative which sources milk from a network of 60 dairy farmers, mostly based in the lush pastures of counties Tyrone and Fermanagh.
Fivemiletown currently employs around 50 people and has a team of experienced cheesemakers, many of whom have been handcrafting cheese for over 40 years. The company has been exporting dairy products, initially creamy butter, since 1900. It now focuses on the production of soft cheeses for retailers and foodservice organisations in the UK, Ireland and other parts of Europe.
The creamery began producing cheese such as Cheddar and Cheshire in the early 1970s and has since developed a comprehensive range of soft cheeses including brie, smoked brie, goat's cheese and oak smoked cheddar. It also produces the unique Causeway range of flavoured cheddars.