UK gold awards for Portadown’s Ballylisk cheese

The family business in Portadown has gained two golds and a bronze in the unique British Virtual Cheese Awards for two creamy cheeses, Triple Rose and Single Rose.

Triple Rose gained gold and Single Rose bronze in the White Mould Cheese category. The second gold was for Triple Rose in Artisan Cheese – Made on the Farm of Cow’s Milk.

The awards aim to create a sustainable, inclusive and transparent cheese awards that support and celebrate the diversity and quality of British cheesemakers, from the grassroots up.

They seek “to nurture talent to help promote a sustainable and thriving industry to consumers”. Another objective is to generate publicity awareness among consumers and a route to market for entrants.

​Using creamy milk from pedigree herds on Armagh farms, Ballylisk was also recently the winner in the fiercely competitive Farmhouse Cheese category in the Artisan Cheese Awards that attracted entries from across the British Isles.

Ballylisk gained several other medals for its quality cheese at the showcase. The company was named a winner in the dairy category of Euro-Toques Ireland.

Euro-Toques celebrate Ireland’s culinary heritage and is a community of chefs and cooks supporting small and artisan food producers and sourcing the best quality ingredients available locally and in season.

The company, now one of Ireland’s leading cheese producers, recently secured business with Marks and Spencer on the island of Ireland and expects to be listed by the high-end retailer in Britain soon.