7 alternatives to Stilton to try this Christmas

If you have tasted one style of British cheese, it is probably Cheddar. If you have tasted a second, it is probably Stilton. Sometimes called the “King of English cheese,” Stilton is the default choice for many cheeseboards at Christmas and beyond. And for good reason: we would be the last ones to argue that creamy, complex Colston Bassett Stilton is anything less than regal.  

That said, Stilton is not the only blue cheese on our slate. We are proud to work with several cheese makers who have played with tradition to create a blue cheese all their own. If you would like to branch out into a new breed of blue for Christmas, we encourage you to try one of the cheeses below. 

A cheeseboard featuring Pevensey Blue, a Gorgonzola-style blue cheese from East Sussex

1. Pevensey Blue

Pevensey Blue is made by husband-and-wife team Martin and Hazel Tkalez in East Sussex. Before beginning their cheese-making careers, Martin was a cheesemonger at Neal’s Yard Dairy and Hazel sold fresh produce to supermarkets. In 2018, they set up cheese making facilities at Hazel’s parents’ farm with the intention of contributing something different to the world of British cheese.  

Developed in the style of a Gorgonzola, Pevensey Blue is sweet and nutty in flavour, with a soft texture that invites the simple company of some good bread.

2. Foxearle 

Would you like a bolder, boozier blue cheese? Try Foxearle, Pevensey Blue’s sister cheese. Martin and Hazel set aside a portion of their blue cheese for us to wrap in local vine leaves soaked in pear eau-de-vie. The wheels are then cold-aged at our maturation arches, developing sweet, fruity flavours.  

3. Cashel Blue

When Tipperary farmers Louis and Jane Grubb created Cashel Blue in the 1980s, there were very few soft blue cheeses being made in Britain and no blue cheese being made in Ireland. In 1985, Neal’s Yard Dairy placed our first order of Cashel Blue, making us the first to bring the cheese into the United Kingdom. After all this time, Cashel Blue remains very much a family operation. The cheese is made in a purpose-built dairy designed by Louis's brother Brian. The couple's daughter Sarah and their son-in-law Sergio now oversee the business.

Cashel Blue is an easy-eating blue cheese with a pleasantly buttery texture and a balanced amount of blue veining which adds a lift to the rich, full-flavoured paste.

4. Beenleigh Blue

Neal's Yard Dairy opened its doors in 1979. At roughly the same time, Robin Congdon started Ticklemore Cheese Dairy in Totnes, Devon. We’ve worked closely ever since. Some things have changed in the intervening decades: Robin has since retired, leaving husband-and-wife team Ben and Laura Harris to oversee the dairy. But we still visit to select and taste cheese twice per year.  

Beenleigh Blue was the first blue cheese Congdon created. The recipe is inspired by Roquefort, though the resulting cheese is quite different in taste. Beenleigh is a blue sheep’s milk cheese with a boozy sweetness and a moist, crumbly texture.

5. Brunswick Blue

In 2016, Neal's Yard Dairy began keeping some younger Beenleigh Blues and maturing them for 10 weeks to create Brunswick Blue. Brunswick is a flakier, more mushroom-y blue cheese with a toasty, biscuity rind.

6. Harbourne Blue

Harbourne Blue is made according to the same Roquefort recipe as Beenleigh Blue, but the use of goat's milk (rather than ewe's milk, as per the French tradition) makes for a markedly different flavour and texture profile. It is a clean cheese with light blue veining, a dense texture, and flavours which are fresh, slightly floral and delicately sweet.  

7. Devon Blue 

The last of the Ticklemore blues, Devon Blue is a cow's milk blue cheese which can be made all year round, including the times when sheep's milk is in short supply. It is sweet and mellow with a caramelly and occasionally lightly spicy flavour. It has a pleasingly dense, fudgy texture that even blue cheese sceptics are likely to love. 

Would you like some advice on which blue cheese belongs on your cheeseboard? Please feel free to contact us. We would be happy to help.