15 of the best Scottish cheeses

“Scotland is an unsung hero in my mind,” says Emma Johnson, a cheese and food specialist whose work includes championing the country’s dairy alongside the Fine Cheesemakers of Scotland. “There’s such a wide array of propositions and passionate producers – a lot of them going back generations.” It’s a shame, she adds, that many of these are only wheeled out South of the border on Burn’s Night or St Andrew’s Day. “They’ve got so much to give, and so many stories to tell all through the year, and I think they should be playing a bigger part on our cheeseboards,” Emma continues.

It’s the unique, variable landscapes and microclimates which shape Scotland’s cheese offering according to Emma, who notes that different regions experience varying weather patterns, while the topography ranges from rugged peaks and mountains, to swathes of pasture and a sea-spray washed coastline.

It’s a wealth of edible riches, Emma says. “Cheesemaking in Scotland goes back centuries, to products like Dunlop and Crowdie, but the cheeses there still get overlooked by the rest of the UK, I think because it’s seen as ‘far away’ and it’s not as easy to get to,” she adds. There’s a perception, too, that cheese in Scotland equals enormous blocks of powerful Cheddar. “And there’s so much more on offer. There are enough varieties to keep a cheeseboard refreshed multiples times over. Blues, pasteurised and unpasteurised, smoked, soft, washed rind, goats’, sheep’s…whisky-infused.”

15 of the best Scottish cheeses

Connage Highland Dairy

Two brothers and their wives run this operation – one couple on the farm, and the other in the dairy. As well as producing their own cheeses, they sell varieties from fellow makers in their cheese room…where they even have a milkshake vending machine!

Connage Gouda is their best-known product, available au natural, or flavoured with additions including nettles. “Their Gouda is a cracker,” says Emma. “I think they’re the only people producing it in Scotland. The flavour is sweet and nutty and really intensifies as it gets older so you get that hint of caramel coming out. All their cheeses are lovely!”

St Andrew’s Farmhouse Cheese Company

The Stewart family have increased milk production on the farm by 25% since introducing robots to the milking parlour, allowing the cows to come and go as they please.

“Everything is made by hand on the farm using unpasteurised cow’s milk and rennet,” says Emma. “Their cows are pasture fed and get a bit of extra feed in their winter silage. The beautiful coast, with the sea breeze coming over, affects the wildflowers that grow there, and those flavours really come out in the milk.”

She favours their traditional Cheddar-style cheese, especially the whisky barrel-smoked version “that’s got a full-on smoke which hits your palate from the moment you take a bite.”

Ainster is another hit. “It’s a crumbly Cheshire-style, and also comes in a smoked version which is absolutely stunning. The smoke on that is lighter and more delicate with oak, and has a lovely tang and balance. It’s perfect with a dram of whisky.”

Strathearn Cheese Co

“These guys are based at Comrie near Crieff, and their Wee Comrie is just superb. Delicious. It’s a small, natural rinded cheese, almost like a Brie style, with a really nice mild flavour. It starts to run a bit once it’s ripe and gets to room temperature. I’d say it’s one of those ones where you can’t stop going back for more.

“Pierre (Leger) is also making Braggon – his latest cheese. It hasn’t been entered into any competitions yet, so it’s a bit of an untold story. Braggon is a pasteurised cow’s milk cheese with a natural rind and a beautiful semi-soft texture that’s almost creamy. And the flavour just keeps on going – so unctuous and moreish with just the right balance of fruitiness and nuttiness. It’s quite exciting to think what the future might hold for that” says Emma.

Errington Cheese

This is a real family affair, with every person involved super passionate about farming, cheese production and preserving the art of artisan cheesemaking. The Errington family are key producers of goats’ and sheep’s milk cheeses in Scotland.

“Elrick Log is a stunner,” says Emma. “It reminds me of a Sainte-Maure, French soft goats’ cheese, with its beautiful mottled outer edges, coated in ash. It is a very young cheese, handmade, and not matured for very long. It’s one of those ones that has a lovely lemony finish, with a slight tang. It’s soft and fresh, but you can cook with it as well as using it on a cheeseboard. It’s wonderful lightly grilled with honey drizzled over.”

Emma also has a penchant for clothbound Corra Linn, the Erringtons’ first dip into the world of hard sheep’s milk cheese. “It’s not available all-year-round because they use their own sheep’s milk, and it’s not constantly in production, but I’m a huge fan of it,” she says. “It has a mottled, orangey, natural rind, but a white paste, with a hint of yellow when you cut into it. This cheese is light and fresh, with a bit of nuttiness coming through with age and, as always with sheep’s milk cheeses, a characteristic sweetness that’s lighter on the palate.”

Emma likes to serve this one with figs, or date chutney.

Inverloch Cheese Co/Isle of Kintyre/Howgate

Together, these combined brands from the same maker produce a huge array of artisan cheeses, from Cheddar style, to blues, Bries, and a number of flavoured wax truckles – some fashioned into fruit shapes, which prove incredibly popular on the export scene.

“I really enjoy Campbeltown Loch – a washed rind cheese they make, with a springy, spongy texture to it,” says Emma. “And Howgate Brie. It’s one of those Bries that seems to mature equally all the way through, with a stunning flavour from Ayshire cow’s milk. It’s hand ladled and, to me, it’s one of the best Bries you can get. A lot of British Bries, when you buy them young, don’t have a lot to them, but this one is lovely after just a few weeks, and only improves as it ages. I’d pair it with some nice fresh or dried mango.”

The Ethical Dairy

Rainton Tomme is one of the most popular cheeses to leave this farm, where a calf with cow farming method is implemented to reduce stress on the animals. “It really is a cheese to shout about,” says Emma. “It’s moulded in a colander, a bit like Berkswell, to get that ‘spaceship’ shape. It’s made like an Alpine cheese, in the traditional Tomme style and I love the colour of it. It’s really luscious and yellowy in the paste, with some holes towards the centre.

“Because the cows are 100% pasture fed, the flavour of the grass seems to come through and linger more in this cheese. Bring it to room temperature, and let the milk do its thing, so when you eat it it tastes sweet and grassy, like a summer’s day. I think it’s one of those cheeses that just makes you smile!”

Highland Fine Cheeses

“Rory is amazing,” beams Emma. “He’s done so much for Scottish cheese, really putting it on the map, and he’s stood true to what he believes in. He’s had a lot of flack for the names of his cheeses, like Fat Cow and Minger, but it’s like water off a duck’s back,” she continues. “The branding is very fresh and vibrant, and stands out, and all his cheeses are vegetarian and pasteurised. He doesn’t get involved in the farming side, but knows the farmers he buys milk from, and has 100% faith in everything they do, and the consistency of quality.”

Emma adores Highland Fine Cheese’s Blue Murder, originally made for Alex James as Blue Monday. “To me, it’s a great introduction to blue cheese.”

“I really enjoy Minger as well. The name suggests a really strong, pungent cheese like Stinking Bishop, but really, when you eat it, it’s very fruity and it’s got that aromatic tone to it. It’s not offensive. It does get stronger as it matures, and I think it becomes better and better with age, becoming fruitier and creamier. It’s a lovely, lovely cheese.”

Dunlop Dairy

Ayshire Dunlop is made using milk from Ayshire cows, predominantly today by Ann Dorward of Dunlop Dairy. “And it’s one of those cheeses that gets more ‘Cheddary’ as it gets older,” Emma explains. “Traditionally it’s tangy, buttery and earthy. If someone was to ask you what a typical Scottish cheese is, you’d say Dunlop!

“They also make Bonnet, which is a hard, naturally rinded goats’ cheese, aged to around eight months and made with their own goats’ milk. It’s got a really nice ‘damp cellar’ aroma that I love.”

Cambus O’May

“This is quite a new company, and the branding is rustically trendy,” explains Emma. “I love the names they use, like Auld Reekie (a whisky finished harder cheese), but Cambus O’May is their flagship one. It’s based on an old recipe and packs a punch, getting nuttier and drier and more crumbly as it ages. It’s a proper, old-fashioned farmhouse style cow’s milk cheese.”

Drumturk Cheeses

“A lovely surprise, when you’ve worked with cheese for as long as I have, is to be introduced to something you haven’t seen or heard of before. When you come across something new, it widens your eyes and you have that ‘wow’ moment,” says Emma.

“The goats’ cheeses Drumturk are making are just a delight, and Ptarmigan won Reserve Champion at the Royal Highland Show in 2023. It’s lactic and fresh, with a melt-in-the-mouth tang. This is a small-scale operation, but what they do, they do very very well!”