MEET: George Bramham, Cheese Cellar Dairy

We caught up with Harvey & Brockless’ head cheesemaker, George Bramham, to find out more about what’s being made at the artisan food producer and distributer’s Cheese Cellar Dairy.

WHERE DO YOU MAKE YOUR CHEESE?

The Cheese Cellar Dairy is in Evesham, Worcestershire.

WHEN DID HARVEY & BROCKLESS START MAKING CHEESE?

Around 2011.

WHAT’S YOUR BACKGROUND?

Before working at H&B, I did a diploma in cheesemaking and dairy at the School of Artisan Food on the Welbeck Estate, where I also did some butchery and bakery.

WHICH CHEESES DO YOU CURRENTLY MAKE?

Fresh goat and cow cheese, traditional Loire Valley style ripened goat’s cheese and triple-cream cow cheese. This includes five goat’s cheeses - Blanche, Trufflyn, Luna, Clara and Ashlynn, a creamy cow’s curd cheese infused with garlic and basil named Greta, and a luxurious triple-cream cheese called Delilah, topped with pink peppercorns.

WHY DID YOU OPT FOR THESE STYLES?

At first, H&B took over a local cheesemaker who made pressed cow’s, goat’s and sheep cheese, years later the range was expanded to fresh and ripened goat’s cheeses which were in great demand by top restaurants, gourmet pubs, airlines and events. To help with this, it was arranged for me to spend a week or so in the Valencay region of France to learn directly the techniques and skills used in making these types of cheese. The set up in Worcester was okay for fresh cheese but not for the ripened goat’s cheese, so the pressed cheeses were dropped and cheese production was moved to new facilities in Evesham where we produce to this day.

HAVE YOU WON ANY AWARDS?

The most significant award was Best Goat’s Cheese 2018 at the British Cheese Awards (held then at The Royal Bath & West Show) for our Ashlynn cheese – a cheese designed by our director, Nicky Philp. Our Ashlynn cheese has also won a few Golds at the World Cheese Awards.

WHAT’S YOUR APPROACH TO SUSTAINABILITY AT THE DAIRY?

One of the biggest sustainability factors for any cheesemaker is whey disposal. Fortunately, there is a bio-digester plant a few miles away which converts the remaining fats, protein and lactic acid in the whey into biogas and electricity. We also installed solar PV panels at the Cheese Cellar recently, providing clean, renewable energy to power for our cheesemaking operation.

Find our more and buy cheese: harveyandbrockless.co.uk

Follow: @harveyandbrockless