Y Fenni: The Welsh Cheese That Sneaks Ale and Mustard Into Every Bite

Y Fenni is a Welsh cheddar blended with wholegrain mustard seeds and ale.

The name comes from the Welsh word for Abergavenny, a market town in Monmouthshire on the edge of the Brecon Beacons. Same cheese, different wax: when it's coated in red instead of yellow, it goes by Red Dragon — a nod to the Welsh national flag.

The Makers

Abergavenny Fine Foods started in 1981 when Tony and Pam Craske moved to Wales looking for a simpler life. Tony went to market to buy one cow. He came back with six goats. Drowning in goat's milk, Pam cracked open a library book on cheesemaking and figured it out. Forty years later, they're one of the UK's largest producers of Welsh cheese.

In 2015, a factory fire brought out 40 firefighters and destroyed the facility. They were back in production within eight weeks. The replacement — a £10 million creamery in Blaenavon — was opened by the Prince of Wales himself.

How to Eat It

Y Fenni is a textbook ploughman's cheese: pile it on a board with pickles, cold cuts, and crusty bread. Pair with a brown ale or Welsh ale — the maltiness mirrors the ale already baked into the cheese. Or melt it. Y Fenni is a natural for Welsh Rarebit (caws pobi in Welsh), a dish with roots going back to the 1500s.

"The Welsh have loved toasted cheese since medieval times — so much so that the legend goes St. Peter once lured all the noisy Welshmen out of heaven by shouting 'caws pobi!' through the door."

Bold flavor, great story, easy to find. Y Fenni deserves a spot on your next board.