Lincolnshire Poacher named best hard cheese

Lincolnshire Poacher has won the Best Hard Cheese award at the Great British Cheese Awards for the second year running.
From left: Brian Turner - Chef Restaurateur and President of the Royal Academy of Culinary Arts, Tim Jones of Lincolnshire Poacher, Ollie Lloyd of Great British Chefs and Wendy Wilson-Bett of Peters Yard EMN-171016-073054001From left: Brian Turner - Chef Restaurateur and President of the Royal Academy of Culinary Arts, Tim Jones of Lincolnshire Poacher, Ollie Lloyd of Great British Chefs and Wendy Wilson-Bett of Peters Yard EMN-171016-073054001
From left: Brian Turner - Chef Restaurateur and President of the Royal Academy of Culinary Arts, Tim Jones of Lincolnshire Poacher, Ollie Lloyd of Great British Chefs and Wendy Wilson-Bett of Peters Yard EMN-171016-073054001

The cheese is made by Simon and Tim Jones who are committed to producing the very best cheese with a little help from their 230 Holstein Friesian cows.

This family owned farm and dairy, at Ulceby, near Alford, has been in the Jones family since 1917 and they are the fourth generation to run it.

The Great British Cheese awards celebrate the best of British cheese produced and distributed by independent cheese makers and retailers.

Now in their second year, the awards stand apart from other events as the general public has a large influence on recognising and rewarding outstanding British cheese.

This year saw a record number of entries and more than 9,000 people voted for their favourite cheeses, producers and retailers.

Only those cheese producers and retailers who received the most votes in each category were shortlisted for an award.

A prestigious panel including Brian Turner - Chef Restaurateur and President of the Royal Academy of Culinary Arts, Chantelle Nicholson – Group Operations Director for Marcus Wareing Restaurants and Head Chef at Tredwells by Marcus Wareing, Galton Blackiston – Owner & Chef Patron of Morston Hall, Adam Woodyatt – Actor and food blogger, Patrick McGuigan – Food Journalist and Cheese Writer, Jane Devonshire MasterChef Winner 2016, Regula Ysewijn – Food Writer, Photographer & Great Taste Awards Judge, Paul Thomas – Dairy Technologist, Signe Johansen – Cook and Author, Owen Davies – Cheese Buyer, Harvey & Brockless, Matthew Carver – Owner, The Cheese Bar, Felicity Spector – TV news journalist & Great Taste Awards judge and Katherine Alano – Digital Editor of The Caterer have together tasted and judged the overall category winners.

The Great British Cheese Awards were organised by Great British Chefs (the UK’s fastest growing food website) and Peter’s Yard, whose crispbread was named as “the best biscuit for cheese out there”.

Co-founder of Peter’s Yard, Wendy Wilson-Bett said “At Peter’s Yard, our award-winning traditional sourdough crispbread complement a wide variety of cheese and we are keen to further strengthen our association with passionate producers, retailers and ‘great cheese’.

“We feel this is a fantastic initiative to be involved with especially as there is such a positive involvement by the general public.

“We hope that these awards will also encourage more people to seek out and buy great British cheese like Lincolnshire Poacher.”

The winners were announced at a ceremony held on 11th October at The Gilbert Scott, an elegant British restaurant and bar by Marcus Wareing’s team which is set within The St Pancras Renaissance Hotel in London.

Ollie Lloyd, CEO and founder of Great British Chefs said “We launched The Great British Cheese Awards last year with the objective of producing a catalogue of great artisan cheese and to also discover up-and-coming cheesemakers.

“The response we have received again this year was way above expectation and we are grateful to the remarkable support from producers, retailers and especially the general public. #

“We are confident to continue our quest to create a platform for cheese producers and retailers to showcase the very best of the artisan cheese industry.

“Together Great British Chefs and Peter’s Yard have a social media reach of over 1.3 million and we will continue to utilise this to help promote British cheese talent.”