Tasting notes

Take the cheese path less trodden. Everyone can enjoy a balanced board on Boxing Day but confining your cheese adventure to Christmas feels a little…unadventurous. 

A Year in Cheese will take you on a 12 month (4 boxes) journey through artisan cheese. You’ll experience the change that seasons bring - yes, cheese is seasonal! - the comfort cheeses that suit a winter’s evening through to the fresher cheeses that suit a summer sharing board. 

You’ll learn how even the same cheese can taste different depending on the time of year and even the most ardent goat-haters will be turned by how great a Golden Cross taste in Spring. Cheese will never be the same again.

Take the cheese path less trodden. Everyone can enjoy a balanced board on Boxing Day but confining your cheese adventure to Christmas feels a little…unadventurous. 

A Season in Cheese will showcase the very best a season has to offer. You'll receive 3 deliveries - 1 each month for 3 months - of exceptional artisan cheese that's truly at the peak of its life. From the comfort cheese that suits a winter's evening to the fresher cheeses that suit a summer sharing board, each box will be a window into the world of seasonal cheese.

Take the cheese path less trodden. Everyone can enjoy a balanced board on Boxing Day but confining your cheese adventure to Christmas feels a little…unadventurous. 

A Year in Cheese will take you on a full 12 month journey through artisan cheese. You’ll experience the change that seasons bring - yes, cheese is seasonal! - the comfort cheeses that suit a winter’s evening through to the fresher cheeses that suit a summer sharing board. 

You’ll learn how even the same cheese can taste different depending on the time of year and even the most ardent goat-haters will be turned by how great a Golden Cross taste in Spring. Cheese will never be the same again.

Take the cheese path less trodden. Everyone can enjoy a balanced board on Boxing Day but confining your cheese adventure to Christmas feels a little…unadventurous. 

A Year in Cheese will take you on a 12 month (6 box) journey through artisan cheese. You’ll experience the change that seasons bring - yes, cheese is seasonal! - the comfort cheeses that suit a winter’s evening through to the fresher cheeses that suit a summer sharing board. 

You’ll learn how even the same cheese can taste different depending on the time of year and even the most ardent goat-haters will be turned by how great a Golden Cross taste in Spring. Cheese will never be the same again.

Take the cheese path less trodden. Everyone can enjoy a balanced board on Boxing Day but confining your cheese adventure to Christmas feels a little…unadventurous. 

A Year in Cheese will take you on a 12 month (4 boxes) journey through artisan cheese. You’ll experience the change that seasons bring - yes, cheese is seasonal! - the comfort cheeses that suit a winter’s evening through to the fresher cheeses that suit a summer sharing board. 

You’ll learn how even the same cheese can taste different depending on the time of year and even the most ardent goat-haters will be turned by how great a Golden Cross taste in Spring. Cheese will never be the same again.

Take the cheese path less trodden. Everyone can enjoy a balanced board on Boxing Day but confining your cheese adventure to Christmas feels a little…unadventurous. 

A Season in Cheese will showcase the very best a season has to offer. You'll receive 3 deliveries - 1 each month for 3 months - of exceptional artisan cheese that's truly at the peak of its life. From the comfort cheese that suits a winter's evening to the fresher cheeses that suit a summer sharing board, each box will be a window into the world of seasonal cheese.

Take the cheese path less trodden. Everyone can enjoy a balanced board on Boxing Day but confining your cheese adventure to Christmas feels a little…unadventurous. 

A Year in Cheese will take you on a full 12 month journey through artisan cheese. You’ll experience the change that seasons bring - yes, cheese is seasonal! - the comfort cheeses that suit a winter’s evening through to the fresher cheeses that suit a summer sharing board. 

You’ll learn how even the same cheese can taste different depending on the time of year and even the most ardent goat-haters will be turned by how great a Golden Cross taste in Spring. Cheese will never be the same again.

Take the cheese path less trodden. Everyone can enjoy a balanced board on Boxing Day but confining your cheese adventure to Christmas feels a little…unadventurous. 

A Year in Cheese will take you on a 12 month (6 box) journey through artisan cheese. You’ll experience the change that seasons bring - yes, cheese is seasonal! - the comfort cheeses that suit a winter’s evening through to the fresher cheeses that suit a summer sharing board. 

You’ll learn how even the same cheese can taste different depending on the time of year and even the most ardent goat-haters will be turned by how great a Golden Cross taste in Spring. Cheese will never be the same again.

Take the cheese path less trodden. Everyone can enjoy a balanced board on Boxing Day but confining your cheese adventure to Christmas feels a little…unadventurous. 

A Year in Cheese will take you on a 12 month (4 boxes) journey through artisan cheese. You’ll experience the change that seasons bring - yes, cheese is seasonal! - the comfort cheeses that suit a winter’s evening through to the fresher cheeses that suit a summer sharing board. 

You’ll learn how even the same cheese can taste different depending on the time of year and even the most ardent goat-haters will be turned by how great a Golden Cross taste in Spring. Cheese will never be the same again.

Take the cheese path less trodden. Everyone can enjoy a balanced board on Boxing Day but confining your cheese adventure to Christmas feels a little…unadventurous. 

A Season in Cheese will showcase the very best a season has to offer. You'll receive 3 deliveries - 1 each month for 3 months - of exceptional artisan cheese that's truly at the peak of its life. From the comfort cheese that suits a winter's evening to the fresher cheeses that suit a summer sharing board, each box will be a window into the world of seasonal cheese.

Take the cheese path less trodden. Everyone can enjoy a balanced board on Boxing Day but confining your cheese adventure to Christmas feels a little…unadventurous. 

A Year in Cheese will take you on a full 12 month journey through artisan cheese. You’ll experience the change that seasons bring - yes, cheese is seasonal! - the comfort cheeses that suit a winter’s evening through to the fresher cheeses that suit a summer sharing board. 

You’ll learn how even the same cheese can taste different depending on the time of year and even the most ardent goat-haters will be turned by how great a Golden Cross taste in Spring. Cheese will never be the same again.

Take the cheese path less trodden. Everyone can enjoy a balanced board on Boxing Day but confining your cheese adventure to Christmas feels a little…unadventurous. 

A Year in Cheese will take you on a 12 month (6 box) journey through artisan cheese. You’ll experience the change that seasons bring - yes, cheese is seasonal! - the comfort cheeses that suit a winter’s evening through to the fresher cheeses that suit a summer sharing board. 

You’ll learn how even the same cheese can taste different depending on the time of year and even the most ardent goat-haters will be turned by how great a Golden Cross taste in Spring. Cheese will never be the same again.

Ashcombe was once described as "Smoother than Marvin Gaye" and we'd have to agree. There's a reason this handsome chap (and we're not just talking about the cheesemaker DJ), has won so many awards. An Alpine style cheese with a line of wood ash running through, giving you gentle milky flavours with a slightly smoky finish. 

Loosely based on a Tomme de Savoie, Stoney Cross is a buttery, velvety cheese featuring a creamy centre with a bit of squidge encased in a rugged rind

This square-shaped cheese, made in the style of a Brie, is everything a good soft cheese should be. Softy, creamy, buttery and yielding, with a lovely bite from the rind. Whilst the centre of the Bath Soft cheese is very mild and buttery, the rind packs some more flavour, with mushroom, earthy damp vibes, and a teeny citrus/lemon tang hidden in there. It is a relatively mild cheese on the Brie-style spectrum, but beautifully complex, and not a cheese to be missed. (Their blue cheese won Best Cheese in World 2014!).

For a flash of colour on your Christmas Cheese board, look no further than the stunning Shropshire Blue. Despite its name, Shropshire Blue is not made in Shropshire at all and is generally made in either Nottinghamshire, Derbyshire or Leicestershire. It is a pasteurised cow’s milk blue cheese with a semi-firm texture which is described as being a bit more mellow than a Stilton and edging towards qualities of a Cheshire! Over the course of maturation, this cheese develops a natural orange-brown rind and has a tangy aroma. The flavour is strong and sharp, with a metallic edge coming through from the starter cultures used.

A sheep's milk cheese made with milk from the flock at Sheaf House Farm just up the road in Gloucestershire. Made only seasonally from late March, Bibury comes to life in Autumn. Classic notes of meadow flowers and hay along with white chocolate and a fondant texture that is very appealing.

A scintillating 9-month aged gouda style cheese. 

If there was ever a Goldilocks gouda, then this is it. Just young enough to be supple, buttery, nutty sweet and unbelievably moreish, yet old enough to have developed a slightly weathered earthiness and rich complexity. We reckon this tastes like liberally buttered jacket potato skins. Oh, and finish is a joy to behold, long, sweet and delightful.

To top it off Swift Reserve pairs perfectly with coffee (yes, coffee). Transport yourself to the Med and enjoy a wedge of cheese with your morning caffeine. Keeping you fuller for longer and tasting shockingly good, it'll soon become part of your breakfast routine. Exclusive to cheesegeek.

Look out for the Swift Black coming soon to one of London's most exciting coffee specialists!

Mature, and not in a dull, doesn't like to leave the house way. Quicke's Mature is just fully developed. Quicke's the makers date back to 1540s so they know how to make goooood cheese. Handcrafted using grass-fed cow milk, this well rounded cheddar is typically matured for 12-18 months (hence the name) and brings you a variety of flavours from brothy to buttery to freshly mown grass and baked potato flavours. Always with the characteristic cheddar tang.

British cider-washed soft cheese

An unforgettable soft cheese, washed in cider. 

A testament to British cheesemaking, and a nod to continental cheesemaking. Washington is a washed rind cheese destined for great things. When slightly younger, the flavours are fresher and crisper, with just a hint of fruitiness. Ripened on, it develops deep, savoury, meaty flavour, a bit like those famous continental pongers like Epoisses. However, the cider wash brings an astonishing fermented fruity funk, balancing the savoury flavours perfectly, all playing out amidst the most tantalising creamy, decadent, luxurious texture. A modern take on history, and a cheese for the ages.

Designed to be eaten as a young cheese, Cornish Blue is a very different product from traditional English blue cheeses. Its flavour is mild and creamy, with a dense texture and buttery richness, instead of the ‘salty tang’ common of other traditional blue cheeses it has a gentle sweetness.

The only pasteurised Red Leicester to be produced in Leicester, this beaut is buttery and flaky and a firm favourite and both cheesegeek and Long Clawson, the cheesemakers. We're not the only ones to think so as Rutland Red has won many an award, we think the finish is reminiscent of a Creme Brulee. Red Leicester is classic on any cheeseboard and is also one of our top picks to cook with, Cauliflower Cheese we're looking at you!!

From Lynher Dairies, the makers of Cornish Yarg and Garlic Yarg, we welcome Cornish Kern—a stonker of a cheese. This beaut is off the chart with flavour. Encased in black wax, it is made in the style of a Gouda, however, the utilisation of Alpine starter cultures gives the cheese multiple dimensions. It has a real fruity twang, something like from an old sweet shop, except cheesy. Think exotic dried fruits, salted caramel, toasted hazelnuts and almonds, and although savoury, it simply tempts and teases you with a little bit of nutty buttery sweetness. All the flavours just linger beautifully in your mouth for the perfect amount of time. Its crumbly, crisp and slate-like texture simply arouses one's senses to another planet. An absolute worldy cheese....literally.