The Australian artisanal cheese industry has experienced a bit of a boom in the last decade. Read on to discover our 6 Best Australian blue cheeses. Unfortunately (or is it fortunately?), you will have to visit us Down Under to get to enjoy these because they are not exported overseas.
SEE ALSO: What makes blue cheese look, smell and taste the way it does →
1. Milawa Aged Blue
Let’s start our journey in our home state, Victoria. And our first blue cheese on this list is, in many ways, the one that started it all.
In 1988, David & Anne Brown founded Milawa Cheese and started making a Gorgonzola blue cheese aptly named Milawa Blue. Moreover, they would hand-select a small number of wheels for further maturation to make their Aged Blue.
While the original cheese is inspired by an Italian recipe, the end product smells and tastes of the Victorian High Country. To top it all off, this is a great gateway cheese for people who are hesitant to try blue cheese. This spectacularly complex blue is savoury and sweet, with lingering notes of caramel and chocolate.
2. Venus Blue
We continue our exploration of Victoria in the South Gippsland region. Here, we find our favourite farmhouse Victorian blue cheese, Venus Blue.
Meticulously made by Burke Brandon (Prom Country Cheese) on their family’s sheep farm in Moyarra, this blue cheese is a celebration of the local terroir. As a matter of fact, they use the natural cultures from the raw milk of their own ewes to make this moderate strength blue cheese.
And what an outstanding cheese it is! It smells of a South Gippsland barnyard and fresh grass. Despite its robust aroma, this blue cheese has a mild and savoury flavour with a very soft finish.
3. Riverine Blue
We stay in Gippsland for our third blue cheese. Based in Fish Creek, Berrys Creek Gourmet Cheese might just be Australia’s premier crafter of blue cheeses.
Berrys Creek Cheese was established in 2007 by Barry Charlton and his partner Cheryl. At their state-of-the-art cheesemaking facility, they hand make some of Australia’s best artisanal blue cheeses using buffalo’s and cow’s milk.
And, in our humble opinion, the buffalo milk Riverine Blue is the pick of the bunch. This is a blue cheese that will delight avid blue cheese fans and hesitant novices alike. Despite its aggressive blue-green striations, it still has a delicate savoury flavour with a lingering lactic sweetness.
4. Bluestone
Our final cheese from Victoria is also the most recent addition to the state’s offering. Victorians are so lucky to have a talented cheesemaker like Ivan Larcher in our midst. Based in Castlemaine, Ivan and his wife Julie (Long Paddock Cheese) handmake exciting and ground breaking artisanal cheeses using local milk. Without a doubt, Bluestone is one such cheese.
Drawing its inspiration for the raw milk AOP cheese, Fourme de Montbrison, Bluestone has a gorgeous rugged natural rind with a spattering of blue, grey and orange moulds.
Furthermore, its texture is ever so slightly crumbly and, yet, melt-in-your-mouth creamy. Bluestone’s aroma is moderate to strong with a definite wild and blue quality. And the flavour! Wow! It is incredibly complex, savoury, sweet and spicy.
5. Sapphire Blue
Our fifth blue cheese takes us to the island of Tasmania. Indeed, Sapphire Blue is Grandvewe Cheeses’s signature cheese. This stunning blue cheese is made with pasteurised sheep’s milk from their own herd of Awassi ewes.
At 4 months, Sapphire Blue has an orange-tinged thin natural rind. Internally, its off-white pâte is moist but dense with a gorgeous splattering of blue-green veins, imparted by Penicillium roqueforti. Unsurprisingly, Sapphire Blue is often compared to Roquefort due to its rich texture and spicy flavour profile.
6. Jamberoo Blue
The final blue cheese on our list comes from the Southern Highlands of New South Wales. Pecora Dairy is a trail-blazing farmhouse cheesemaker that is leading the way in raw milk cheese production.
Michael and Cressida Cains founded Pecora Dairy in 2011 on 200 acres in Robertson, located in the green heart of the Southern Highlands, 100 miles south of Sydney. Their overarching philosophy is one of gentleness: towards the land, their sheep and in the production of their award winning cheeses.
Taking its name from the Aboriginal word for track, Jamberoo Blue is a mild yet complex blue cheese. As it ages, its flavour changes from yeast and mushroom to spicy and sweet.
What’s your favourite Australian blue cheese?
So, there you have our 6 best Australian blue cheeses. You might have noticed that half of them are made with sheep’s milk. Did you know that Australia is home to more sheep than humans?
On a more serious note though, the rich and sweet qualities in good sheep’s milk make it very suitable for making blue cheeses. Now, fellow Australian cheese lovers, what’s your favourite Aussie blue cheese? For all of our readers from around the world, have we convinced you to come visit us in Australia? Drop me a comment below.
Jonah is a a hipster, eco-warrior and slow food afficionado. Coming from a scientific background, Jonah has a particular interest in cheese science. And yes, he loves a good cheese pun!
