Enter the 2026 Irish Cheese Awards
The countdown is on! There is now just one week remaining to enter the 2026 Irish Cheese Awards.
Held every two years, the Irish Cheese Awards celebrate the exceptional quality, innovation and craftsmanship of Irish farmhouse and speciality cheese. As the only awards dedicated exclusively to Irish cheese, they provide producers from across the island of Ireland with the opportunity to benchmark their cheeses against the very best in the industry.
Judging will take place on 2 September 2026 at La Rousse Foods in Dublin, where an expert panel of Irish and international judges will assess entries across a wide range of categories. Winners will be announced at the Awards Ceremony on 24 September 2026 at Cloughjordan House, Co. Tipperary.
2024 Irish Cheese Awards
Following a long but exciting day of judging more than 170 cheeses in Teagasc, Ashtown in late March by an expert panel of tasters from home and abroad, this year’s Irish Cheese Awards were presented at the beautiful Kilshane House, Co Tipperary on Wednesday 24th April at a daytime awards ceremony.
The Supreme Champion was awarded to Hegarty’s Cheese for their Alpine Style Raw Milk Hard Cheese for a second time in a row! Many new entrants picked up golds along with stalwarts retaining gold medals in the 17 categories.
Upon arrival to Kilshane House, guests were greeted with a welcome reception of Irish Farmhouse Cheeses, including previous Supreme Champion winners. We were delighted to welcome Bobby Kerr as MC for the event.
2024 Event
Following the main body of awards presentation in the beautiful and historic conservatory, guests moved through to the Orangerie, where Kilshane head chef Ralf Mahler and his team served a sumptuous barbeque lunch, featuring locally reared Tipperary pig on a spit, alongside other ingredients showcasing the best of Irish and local produce.
The final key awards New Cheese, Supreme Champion and Lifetime Achievement were presented after lunch. There was plenty of time for everyone to mingle and network throughout the day and lots of new and old connections were cemented as a result!
Cáis, along with the awards organisers, are very grateful to everyone whose work goes into making the Irish Cheese Awards such a success, particularly our sponsors whose generous support ensures an amazing event and publicity for the Irish Cheese Awards cheeses and cheesemakers. We hope you enjoy the awards ceremony, and have a wonderful day catching up with friends and colleagues and celebrating our amazing Irish cheeses. Go raibh mile maith agaibh go léir!
For any queries please contact the awards organisers on
awards@irishcheese.ie
CAIS 