Blue is best as Arran creamery celebrates success at world’s
The Bellevue Creamery is celebrating winning a hefty slice of awards, including the best cheese in Scotland, at the World Cheese Awards - the largest cheese competition in the world dedicated to celebrating excellence across the globe.
The Arran cheese makers won four awards for locally-made soft cheeses Bellevue brie and camembert – and the best Scottish cheese and gold awards for their Bellevue blue, after competing against 3,000 other cheeses from across six continents.
The cheeses were judged by 230 cheese makers, experts, retailers and cheese buyers who selected those worthy of a bronze, silver or gold award based on the rind, body and the colour, texture, consistency and most importantly, the taste.
Arran blue was the highest rated with a gold award, as well as being named the best Scottish cheese, while the brie took silver and the camembert earned a noteworthy bronze.
The Bellevue Cheese Company located near Blackwaterfoot is part of the Arran Cheese Shop family and has previously won a silver medal award for its camembert and a gold award for its Arran blue, which is a pasteurised semi-soft blue cheese similar to the French Bleu de Auvern.
Making the achievement of winning the best cheese in Scotland even more remarkable is that the Bellevue company is a small batch artisan producer which, when competing against the largest cheese producers, came out on top.
When asked about the recipe for his cheese being ranked among the best Scotland has to offer, Bellevue dairy manager Calum Chaplin said: ‘We are delighted to have won these awards for our cheeses. The success of our cheese not only lies with the skills of the cheese makers, who know when to adjust the formulas for the seasons and changing conditions, but it is also owing to the quality of our Arran milk and the unpolluted environment in which our milk and cheese is produced. For a relatively small producer winning the best Scottish cheese accolade and against such strong competition, we are extremely pleased and proud.’