5 of the best Irish cheeses

From wild craggy mountains and verdant hillsides, to wide open pastureland, carpeted thickly with grass, clover and buttercups – Ireland and Northern Ireland boast some of the most pristine, beautiful, productive farmland in Europe.

Managed by custodian farming families - many with generations of heritage and know-how behind them - these precious landscapes feed into a dairy industry where exceptional milk is transformed into internationally recognised cheeses.

For British cheesemongers, where the demand for constant ‘newness’ is ever present from customers, Irish and Northern Irish cheesemakers are just on the doorstep, their farm gates wide open, ready to help you discover delicate goats’ cheeses, silky buffalo mozzarellas, champion blues, sophisticated, complex Cheddars, and so much more.

With trade channels revived in 2025, thanks to work behind the scenes from Bord Bia, Cais and the Specialist Cheesemakers Association, it’s never been easier to access these products and bring them to your counter.

Here are just a few to look out for…

1. Killeen

Maker: Killeen Farmhouse Cheese

A herd of cheeky goats, raised on over 50 acres of grass, supplemented by carefully homemade sileage, are at the heart of this family operation.

Killeen’s first cheeses were made 21 years ago, leaning into an Alpine, semi-hard style, pasteurised, and aged for two (to five) months.

The result is a product that even those adamant they don’t like goats’ cheese say they enjoy. It’s supple in the middle, with greater complexity and a more savoury character towards the rind. Sweetness and nuttiness dominate on the palate, with the ‘goat’ flavour only subtly making itself apparent at the end, demonstrating the gentleness with which the milk has been handled.

Killeen has a number of awards under its belt, including Supreme Champion at the Irish Cheese Awards and Golds at the World Cheese Awards, Artisan Cheese Awards and British Cheese Awards.

2. St Tola Ash

Maker: St Tola Farmhouse Cheese

St Tola has been made in the village of Inagh, just south of the Burren in County Clare, since the late 70s – taking its name from the ruins of a nearby 12th Century church.

Former teacher, Siobhán Ní Gháirbhith, took on the business in 1999, learning the tricks of the cheesemaking trade from the previous owners, and funnelling her passion and love for artisan cheese into what today is an award-winning, much-loved business, crafting world class products.

The farm is part of the Slow Food movement, and Siobhán and the team take enormous pride in working as sustainably as possible at every stage of the make. St Tola Ash is considered one of their greatest achievements, made using raw goats’ milk, rolled in traditional food grade ash, which slows down its maturation, evolving a smooth, full-flavoured cheese with sweet, floral and honey undertones.

3. Irish Mature Raw Milk White Cheddar

Maker: Knockanore Farmhouse Cheese

The Lonergan family have been farming in the Knockanore Valley (meaning ‘hills of gold) for nearly four decades, grazing their pedigree Friesian cows, and producing one of Ireland’s last remaining true raw farmhouse cheeses.

Every part of the process takes place on the farm, from gathering the rich raw milk, to following the traditional cheddaring method of stacking the cheese curds (resulting in a firm but open textured finish), cutting and packing.

The cheeses are all-natural with no added artificial flavourings or preservatives. Consumers enjoy the unique, rounded, bold taste of the mature white Cheddar, aged for a minimum of eight months. It’s also available in a vintage red, with added herbs and spices, or smoked over local oak from Lismore.

4. Cooleeney Farmhouse Cheese

Maker: Cooleeney Farm

Similar in style to a Camembert, Cooleeney Farmhouse Cheese is a mould-ripened variety. Slice it open to reveal a pale, straw-yellow paste that’s buttery and creamy, with a chalky centre that softens, becoming silkier as it ripens.

There are hints of grass, flowers and mushroom in this award winner – an expression of the grasslands of Tipperary where it’s made.

The Maher family (now in the fourth generation of farming) have been recognised with awards for the quality of their milk since 1905, caring for a closed herd of pedigree Friesians, which ensure consistency throughout the process of cheesemaking.

The cheese has been made here since the late 80s, with a great amount of attention and care taken at every step from start to finish.

5. Boyne Valley Blue

Maker: Boyne Valley Farmhouse Cheese

Third generation farmer Michael Finegan and wife Jenny set themselves up to supply goats’ milk from their base in the Boyne Valley, in 2008. But shortly afterwards, they saw the potential to fill a niche in the cheese and dairy market, producing their own cheeses.

Made on site, using milk from their happy herd, Boyne Valley Blue was the first variety to come out of the cheesemaking room, and it’s one that’s won them great acclaim – especially as it was the only blue goats’ cheese being made in Ireland when they launched in 2010.

Boyne Valley Blue is semi-hard and pasteurised cheese, with a crumbly, firm nature, even blueing, and a piquancy and robust, moreish flavour often likened to the French Bleu d’Auvergne.