It’s about a five-minute drive from the Main Street of Tobermory to Isle of Mull Cheese & Spirit Farm, artisanal producer of cheddar and blue cheeses. Known in Scottish Gaelic as Sgriob-Ruadh, the farm also houses a distillery and holds bragging rights as being a completely sustainable operation.
It’s a tranquil, picturesque landscape of emerald pastures and rolling hills that spill into deep forests beyond. We enter through a trellis-covered café called The Glass Barn, passing a counter of delicious-looking cakes, scones and baked goods that makes me tempted to skip the tour and pull up a chair!
The Tour Begins
Founded more than 50 years ago by Chris and Jeff Reade, the farm is now in its third generation as a family-run business. An American cheesemaker named Troy welcomes our group of about 15, explaining that he fell in love with both a Scottish woman and the cheese farm and now lives with his family on the island.
“Isle of Mull cheese is globally recognized and has won industry gold medals including Scotland’s best cheese,” Troy explains with great enthusiasm as he walks us to the “milking parlour,” where the farm’s 140 cows provide milk for cheese-making. The farm does not pasteurize the milk, creating fully organic products and preserving the “good bacteria” that affects the flavor.
“We are able to skip pasteurization because of the short distance – about 15 meters – between collecting the milk and beginning the cheese-making process,” Troy tells us. He also talks about how the farm’s commitment to the welfare of its animals contributes to the quality of its products.
As we walk from one area to the next, Troy explains the steps involved in producing the cheese. He demonstrates the process where the milk is mixed in vats with a natural enzyme called rennet by using items from a basket that he’d strung around his neck. “A science class demonstration!” he laughs.
This very brief video shows how much hand work is involved in the process…while Troy explains what’s happening.
The Aging Process
The cheese curd is separated from the whey – a waste product used in the distillery to produce the farm’s line of spirits – and is pressed in cylindrical rounds Next, it is wrapped in muslin and stored in a special room designed for aging, reminiscent of a wine cellar. Each wheel weighs about 28 kilos (more than 61 pounds) and is turned and rotated by hand throughout the aging process. The cheddar is aged for 18 months and the blue for 8 weeks.
Distillery and Garden
The farm’s distillery is a sophisticated-looking facility. Troy tells us that the Reade family wanted to do something with the whey that was left over from cheese-making. With the help of a microbiologist, they developed a new strand of yeast from the whey for making alcohol. The result is a line of Isle of Mull Spirits, including Whey Ski – an Irish-style whiskey – Whey Vodka, a rhubarb liquor and Coo Gin, infused with botanicals grown in the farm’s garden.
The Tasting
After the tour, we head to a tasting room above the café for some samples. The room’s centerpiece is a copper-topped old oak bar complete with copper cowbell light fixtures hanging overhead. Chairs and small tables are scattered throughout the room, giving a comfortable, home-like feel.
Troy serves cubed pieces of cheddar and blue cheese on wooden boards and offers to pour any liquors we wish to try. As we taste the cheese, Herb and I smile at each other. This is not your typical cheese, and after seeing the artisanal process and long aging time, it makes sense that this is something special.
We decide to bring packages back for ourselves and our family – it isn’t available in the U.S. – figuring we could keep it in the little fridges in our ship’s cabin and our hotel room in Montréal before flying home.
Back in Tobermory, Herb and I find a bench by the harbor and open the box of scones we had purchased from the café. Our server had also added cups of jam and clotted cream, with coffee stirring sticks to use as spreaders. It was one of those little touches that fills you with appreciation and thanks.
* * * * *
Three weeks later…At the Montréal airport, Herb’s carry-on is flagged because of an unusual item seen in the scanner. After opening the bag, the attendant calls out in surprise to his coworkers, “It’s cheese!”
Oh how I hope that’s how the story ends, Mary, and not as the cheese is carried off as some forbidden import?! Several friends have reported how a British christmas cake has a distinctive appearance in the scanner on their return to the US. Apparently it appears somewhat similar to a rather more alarming substance, but that in every case, the personal doing the scanning has reflected on the time of the year and the country of origin and recognised it as “just another Christmas cake”!!
A great choice of tour I’d say – I especially enjoy tours with tastings too!
Yes, it’s a happy ending, Gill, and we are now enjoying that fabulous cheese! I think the authorities were more curious than concerned, but I would have been extremely upset if it had been taken away. (Note to self about British Christmas cakes!) The tour was one of the best we’ve experienced and a real surprise… a beautiful day all around.
My mouth is watering, and I can imagine the smell as if being there!
Oh, those virtual tastes and smells! Thanks, Nancy! This is one of those places I would frequent, if only it were closer. Herb and I are down to our last bit of cheese…have been parcelling it out in the thinnest of slices.😊