Jane and Louis Grubb began making Ireland’s first farmhouse blue cheese in the 1980s at Beechmount Farm in Tipperary. They named it Cashel Blue after The Rock of Cashel, a local medieval castle. Cashel Farmhouse Cheesemakers is now run by their daughter and son-in-law Sarah and Sergio Furno, and though the business is most famous for the cow’s milk Cashel Blue, they also make Crozier Blue and Shepherd’s Store using Friesland sheep’s milk.
Fun fact: did you know that there are fewer than 1000 milking sheep in Ireland?
We’re shining a spotlight on Shepherd’s Store this spring. Made seasonally between March and August, this firm yet delicately creamy cheese is aged for upwards of nine months. The first delicious wheels have recently arrived in our maturing rooms and on our cheese counter, and it feels rather special to have an allocation of the 500 cheeses produced in 2025. We hope you’ll enjoy its complex flavour, with the savoury and gentle sweet notes of melted butter.
We can rave about this cheese until the cows – or sheep – come home. However, we were very happy to chat to Sarah Furno and can now tell you more in the cheesemaker’s own words. As someone who has experience in the world of wine, Sarah also provides some excellent pairing suggestions. Please read on!
What makes this cheese special?
Shepherd’s Store is a cheese we don’t rush, there is a respect for time and patience every step of the way. Each wheel is typically around 33 litres of pure Irish sheep’s milk and represents a day’s milk from 22 grass-fed ewes. Aged for a minimum of nine months, it takes time to develop, not coming into its own until the atmosphere has built in the maturing rooms as the season progresses.
People often ask us to describe our Shepherd’s Store, to reference it to other cheeses. This is something we find quite difficult to do. It was the culmination of several influences: mine and Sergio’s love of mountain-style cheese, having lived in the Alps; and our late cheesemaker Geurt Van den Dikkenberg’s love of Gouda, having moved from The Netherlands to Ireland to make cheese in the 1980s. We do feel the best comparison if pushed is to an aged Ossau Iraty. Unlike Gouda, the curds aren’t scalded – this seemed an inappropriate step with the very precious sheep’s milk. The rind develops natural moulds and draws on the environment.
It is not a bold cheese, but gentle and creamy-edged, reminiscent of the lush, sweet milk. Yet it is also savoury, with surprising depth and layers of flavour.
Sarah’s Wine Recommendations
I feel that a younger Shepherd’s Store is better paired with a rounded white where the gentle sweet creaminess will be complemented. A little more age is needed for a red, although some Cabernet Francs would make a happy friend to a less mature wheel.
I’m tending towards a malolactic Chardonnay, possibly from cooler climes in South Africa or, indeed, England. A biscuity Champagne would work nicely, given the creamy element of Shepherd’s Store. A Chenin Blanc could pair equally well.
