It may already be an established player on the Australian cheese scene, but Tasmanian producer Bruny Island Cheese Co. is now turning heads abroad. The former delicious. Produce Awards winner has just been crowned one of the best in the world at the World Cheese Awards in Portugal. 

The cheese in question is Bruny Island’s Raw Tom (made in the Tomme style, get it?) which has been awarded a Super Gold Medal and the Trophy for Best Australian Cheese. The awards couldn’t have come at a better time for Bruny Island Cheese Co., which celebrates its 21st birthday this week. 

The annual ceremony took place in the Portuguese city of Viseu and brought together 4,786 cheeses from more than 45 countries (one less than anticipated after some unlucky Brits got stuck at customs).

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A group of 240 judges spent an enviable amount of time judging the thousands of entries. Ultimately, 104 cheeses were awarded Super Gold (including Bruny Island’s), which were then re-assessed by an international ‘Super Jury’ panel to determine the 14 best cheeses across a variety of categories.

As well as scoring two prestigious awards for its Tom, Bruny Island’s 1972 washed rind scored a Gold Medal, and its Raw Milk C2 was awarded a respectable Bronze Medal after receiving a Super Gold in 2023.

Founder of Bruny Island Cheese Co., Nick Haddow, said of the wins, “Winning both the Super Gold Medal and the Best Australian Cheese Trophy is a testament to the commitment of our whole team and the excellence of our agriculture here in southern Tasmania.”

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“[It] can be bloody hard at times,” Haddow continued. “Making artisan cheese on a small island, staying passionate and true to the standards that we set ourselves, constantly pushing the case for raw milk cheese in Australia… It is not a path that many sane people would choose! But all that hard work feels worth it when we receive global recognition like this.”

The Bruny Island Raw Milk Tom is made using unpasteurised milk from the producer’s dairy farm in Glen Huon, Tasmania. The semi-hard cheese is aged for around four months and is noted for its nutty, earthy flavour. 

The cheeses are made in small batches, so keep a close eye on the Bruny Island Cheese Co. website if you want to nab yourself a taste. 

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