Cashel Blue

Cashel Blue is the first farmhouse blue cheese made in Ireland, produced on Beechmount Farm near Fethard in County Tipperary by the Grubb family since 1984. It is made from pasteurized cow's milk — primarily Friesian milk from the family's own herd — and uses a vegetarian rennet and Penicillium roqueforti cultures to create its delicate blue veining.

The cheese is manufactured in small batches, hand-ladled into molds, and aged in a temperature-controlled cellar for about three months. Cashel Blue is notable among European blues for its relatively mild, creamy, and buttery flavor profile — closer to a French Bleu des Causses or a Dolcelatte than to a sharp Roquefort — and for its chalky-white interior streaked with sky-blue veins. The texture is dense and sliceable, the paste smooth and moist.

Eat Cashel Blue at the breakfast and lunch tables of Ireland's country house hotels: it appears on cheese boards at Ballymaloe House (East Cork), Marlfield House (Gorey), and Parknasilla (Kerry). Stock up at Sheridans Cheesemongers in Dublin and Galway, at the English Market in Cork, and at Avoca's deli counters. In the UK, Neal's Yard Dairy and Paxton & Whitfield carry it; in the US, Murray's Cheese in New York, Cowgirl Creamery in Point Reyes, and Whole Foods stock it. Pair with a glass of port, Sauternes, or a stout-style Irish beer.