Dan Hegarty’s Templegall extra mature raw cow’s milk cheese was named overall Supreme Champion at the CÁIS Ireland Association of Irish Farmhouse Cheesemakers awards, for which 13 judges tasted 175 cheeses from 43 businesses, scoring each on aroma, flavour, body, texture, and appearance.
The cheese is an alpine style made with raw milk from a pedigree Friesian herd and aged for a minimum of 18 months.
Hegarty’s Templegall Extra Mature is a hard alpine style cheese which has been developed by farmer, Dan Hegarty with the assistance of French cheesemakers, Jean-Baptiste Enjelvin and Quentin Duboz.
Dan Hegarty credits the success of the cheese to the 150 cows on his farm, which are only milked during the summer when they are grazing outside.Mr. Hegarty said: “a special mention should go to the 150 cows we have back home who are in for milking at the moment as without them none of this success would be possible. The cheese is so special as it is only made during the summer months, as the cows are grazing outside and at are at their happiest then.
- Supreme champion: Hegarty’s Cheese for their ‘Templegall Extra Mature’ Cheese
- Blue cheese: Mike’s Fancy Cheese – ‘Young Buck’ Cheese
- Fresh/soft cheese (buffalo, cow, sheep, mixed milk): Leitrim Hill Creamery – ‘Sliabh An Iarainn’ Cheese
- Fresh/soft cheese (goat milk): Hollywood Farmhouse Cheese – ‘Pocán’ Cheese
- Hard cheese (flavour added): Killeen Farmhouse Cheese – ‘Killeen Goat’s Cheese with Fenugreek’
- Hard/semi-hard cheese under 6 months: Boyne Valley Farmhouse Cheese – ‘Boyne Valley Bán’ Cheese
- Lifetime Achievement Award: Dick & Helene Willems of Coolea Farmhouse
- Mature farmhouse cheddar aged over 12 months: Coolattin Cheddar – ‘Mount Leinster Clothbound’ Cheese
- Mature hard cheese aged over 6 months: Coolea Farmhouse Cheese – ‘Coolea Matured’ Cheese
- New cheese: Rockfield Dairy/Velvet Cloud – ‘Cloonbook’ Cheese
- Raw milk cheese: Hegarty’s Cheese – Templegall Extra Mature’ Cheese
- Retail & creamery cheddar: SuperValu Ireland Signature Tastes – ‘Vintage Red Cheddar’ Cheese
- Retailer class exclusive cheese: Sheridans Cheesemongers – ‘Drunken Saint’ Cheese
- Retailer class semi-hard/hard cheese: Dunnes Stores Simply Better – ‘Irish Farmhouse Killeen Goat’s Cheese’
- Retailer class soft/semi-soft cheese: Aldi Ireland Specially Selected – ‘Cashel Blue’ Cheese
- Smoked cheese: Toons Bridge Dairy – ‘Smoked Scamorza’ Cheese
- Soft Cheese (Flavour Added): Dingle Farm – ‘Bricín (Garlic & Herbs)’ Cheese
- Soft/semi-soft bloomy rind cheese: St. Tola Goat Cheese – ‘St. Tola Original Log’ Cheese
- Washed rind cheese (semi-soft): Durrus Cheese – ‘Durrus Cheese’
