Harrogate - Take Home Notes
Awesome Autumn
#1: Charcoal Cheese
Origin: Yorkshire / Lincolnshire, England (Michael Lee Fine Cheeses / Featherbed)
Vegetarian: Yes
Pasteurised: Yes
Milk Type: Cow's milk
Style & Tasting Notes: Striking, jet-black mature Cheddar blended with food-grade activated charcoal. Surprisingly rich, ultra-creamy, and smooth with a subtle smokiness and no gritty texture.
Fun Fact: Originally created to commemorate coal mining heritage in Northern England, it was the first black cheese launched in the UK.
#2: Blue Monday
Origin: Tain, Ross-shire, Scotland (Highland Fine Cheeses / Alex James)
Vegetarian: Yes
Pasteurised: Yes
Milk Type: Cow's milk
Style & Tasting Notes: Complex, semi-soft blue cheese aged 8–12 weeks. Exceptionally buttery, smooth, and creamy with distinct streaks of blue, balanced by salty spice and sweet dark chocolate notes.
Fun Fact: Created by Blur bassist turned cheesemaker Alex James, who named the cheese directly after his favourite 1983 hit track by New Order.
#3: Rutland Red Leicester
Origin: Melton Mowbray, Leicestershire, England (Long Clawson Dairy)
Vegetarian: Yes
Pasteurised: Yes
Milk Type: Cow's milk
Style & Tasting Notes: Traditional, cloth-bound Red Leicester aged for 6–9 months. Deep orange hue, firm texture, and a rich, flaky crunch with savory, caramelised nut flavors.
Fun Fact: It is the only traditional Red Leicester produced in Leicestershire itself, naturally colored using annatto seed extract.
#4: Harlech
Origin: Abergavenny, Monmouthshire, Wales (Dragon / Abergavenny Fine Foods)
Vegetarian: Yes
Pasteurised: Yes
Milk Type: Cow's milk
Style & Tasting Notes: Mature, creamy Welsh Cheddar infused with horseradish and parsley. Smooth with a fiery, sharp bite tempered by herbaceous freshness. Encased in a bright orange wax casing.
Fun Fact: Named after Harlech Castle in North Wales, home to the famous 13th-century siege that inspired the traditional song "Men of Harlech".
#5: Sykes Fell Sheep's Cheese
Origin: Goosnargh, near Preston, Lancashire, England (Singletons Dairy)
Vegetarian: Yes
Pasteurised: Yes
Milk Type: Sheep's milk
Style & Tasting Notes: Semi-hard, crumbly sheep’s milk cheese with a mild, sweet, and nutty flavor profile. Subtly tangy without the overpowering farmyardy notes often associated with ewe’s milk.
Fun Fact: Named after Sykes Fell in the Forest of Bowland, an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty where local sheep historically grazed.
#6: Red Devil
Origin: Rhyl, Denbighshire, Wales (Snowdonia Cheese Company)
Vegetarian: Yes
Pasteurised: Yes
Milk Type: Cow's milk
Style & Tasting Notes: Creamy, savory Red Leicester-style Cheddar laced with crushed chili flakes and sweet red peppers. Features a warming heat encased in Snowdonia's signature dark red wax coat.
Fun Fact: Part of Snowdonia Cheese Company's fiery range, the name plays on the red wax coating and the devilish kick of habanero/chili spice.
#7: Hawes Oak Smoked Wensleydale
Origin: Hawes, Wensleydale, North Yorkshire, England (Wensleydale Creamery)
Vegetarian: Yes
Pasteurised: Yes
Milk Type: Cow's milk
Style & Tasting Notes: Crumbly, moist traditional Yorkshire Wensleydale naturally cold-smoked over oak chips. Delivers a delicate balanced smokiness alongside Wensleydale's signature honeyed finish.
Fun Fact: Hawes is the home of the last remaining creamery in Wensleydale itself, saving the cheese from extinction in the 1930s.
#8: Fountains Gold
Pasteurised: Yes