GuidesThe Best of the British Isles: Five Cheeses Worth Knowing
The British Isles make cheese the way they make most things: quietly, stubbornly, and better than you expected. Any one of these is worth seeking out. All five together? That's a board worth building a night around.
Milleen — County Cork, Ireland
Milleen is often credited as the cheese that started the entire Irish farmhouse revival. Norman and Veronica Steele began making it on the Beara Peninsula in the late 1970s — a washed-rind, semi-soft cow's milk wheel that smells like the sea and tastes like the land it came from. Before Milleen, there was essentially no Irish artisan cheese scene to speak of. One wheel changed that. Not bad for a hobby that got out of hand.
Learn more at milleenscheese.com.
Gubbeen — County Cork, Ireland
If Milleen started the revolution, Gubbeen perfected the vibe. Made by Giana Ferguson on her family's farm outside Schull, Gubbeen is a washed-rind cheese with a flushed pink rind and a buttery, mushroomy center that gets more complex as it ages. The farm operates as a closed loop — the whey from cheesemaking feeds the pigs, and those pigs become the charcuterie smoked by Giana's son Fingal in his own smokehouse next door. Full circle. Literally delicious.
Learn more at gubbeen.com.
Spenwood — Berkshire, England
Spenwood is the British Isles' answer to Pecorino — and it can go toe to toe. Made from sheep's milk in Berkshire by Village Maid Cheese, it's pressed and aged around six months until it develops a hard, crumbly texture and a flavor that lands somewhere between caramel, hazelnut, and dried grass. In 2023 it won Best British Cheese at the World Cheese Awards and was ranked 8th best cheese in the world. Sheep's milk cheeses from England are criminally underrated.
Learn more at villagemaidcheese.co.uk.
Single Gloucester — Gloucestershire, England
You've heard of Double Gloucester. Single Gloucester is its older, rarer, more interesting sibling. It only qualifies if it's made in Gloucestershire from the milk of Old Gloucester cattle — an ancient breed that nearly went extinct in the 1970s. PDO-protected, meaning it's as geographically locked as Champagne. Lighter and more delicate than Double, with a clean, grassy, almost springlike flavor. People have been making it here since at least the 12th century. That's not heritage. That's a legacy.
Learn more at Smart's Traditional Gloucester Cheese.
Ford Farm — Dorset, England
Ford Farm makes cave-aged cheddar in Dorset, and yes, the cave part matters. The cool, humid air of a proper cave develops a rind and a depth of flavor that a climate-controlled warehouse simply cannot replicate — more complex, more layered, with a sharpness that builds slowly and sticks around. Cheddar is the most copied cheese in the world. This is the version that reminds you why everyone started copying it in the first place.
Learn more at fordfarm.com.