02 October 2007, 19:13 PM

  • The British Cheese Awards, the annual celebration of the best of the British Cheese industry, has announced the winners of this year’s competition.

Of the record-breaking 867 cheeses entered into this year’s Awards, the Supreme Champion, as decided by the panel of industry experts including cheese buyers for supermarkets and journalists, was judged to be the Seriously Strong Cheddar, a creamery made cheese from the Caledonian Cheese Co in Scotland.

Juliet Harbutt, founder and organiser of the British Cheese Awards commented, “This Cheddar is exactly what it says on the packet – seriously strong and seriously good and it needed to be to beat off 866 other contenders. It was judged by three different sets of judges to win Supreme Champion 2007. It shows standards in the commercial sector of British cheese making are very high.”

Other winners on the night, in which awards in 25 categories were handed out, together with 288 Bronze, Silver and Gold medals, included Iona Cromag from Isle of Mull Cheese, winner of Best Scottish Cheese. A ewes’ milk cheese washed in Iona whiskey it has a peaty tang and fabulous voluptuous runny texture. This category has seen a regular year-on-year increase in entries, and provides an interesting counterpoint to the more traditional regional cheeses.

Other Country Award winners were St Oswald from Gorsehill Abbey Farm in Best English, Pant-ysgawn Organic (Abergavenny Fine Foods) Best Welsh and Coolea (Coolea Farmhouse Cheeses) Best Irish.

For more information on the Awards, and British cheeses in general, visit www.thecheeseweb.com.