Gold Hill wins Best American Cheese at World Cheese Awards 2017
Gold Hill from Haystack Mountain Goat Dairy has been named the Best American Cheese at the 30th annual World Cheese Awards, following over 3,000 cheeses being judged in a single day at Tobacco Dock in London.
Forming part of this year’s Taste of London Festive Edition, the 30th anniversary edition of the awards saw entries from a record breaking 35 different countries, with the final Super Jury naming Cornish Kern, an alpine-style cheese made by the UK’s Lynher Dairies Cheese Company, as the World Champion Cheese 2017.
With a total of eight Super Gold, 16 Gold, 28 Silver and 48 Bronze awards going to entries from the USA this year, the judges shined a spotlight on the hard work and dedication of the nation’s cheesemakers on this truly international stage. Among the other winners taking awards back to the USA from the largest cheese-only competition on the planet, are a Super Gold winning Cremont made by Vermont Creamery, a Super Gold winning Little Hosmer from Cellars at Jasper Hill and a Gold winning Organic Rogue River Blue from Rogue Creamery.
Entries made their way by road, rail, air and sea, via 12 consolidation points located in every corner of the globe, which channelled cheeses into London from nations including Australia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Columbia and South Africa. The 230-strong judging panel brought together more nations than ever before, representing six continents and 29 different countries, from South Africa and Japan to Mexico and the USA, to taste, nose and grade all 3,001 cheeses in a single day, giving Bronze, Silver, Gold and Super Gold awards to winning cheeses.
With the top 16 cheeses selected, the audience then gathered at Taste of London Festive Edition to watch the International Super Jury debate the world’s best cheeses. Made up of top names from the global curd community, featuring cheese makers, buyers, retailers and writers, including Cathy Strange, global executive coordinator for Whole Foods Market in the USA, Roland Barthélemy, President of Guilde des Fromagers in France, Norwegian cheesemonger Siri Helen Hansen-Barry, Claudia Bowman from McIntosh & Bowman Cheesemonger in Australia and Mary Quicke from Quicke’s in the UK, the final panel made their cases for their chosen cheeses live on World Cheese TV, before crowning this year’s World Champion Cheese.
Taste of London Festive Edition took place at Tobacco Dock in London from 16-19 November. For more information, visit https://london.tastefestivals.com.