In 2014, Irish Country Living journalist Maria Moynihan sat down with Ireland’s cheesemaking pioneer, Veronica Steele, after her diagnosis of multiple system atrophy (MSA) – a rare neurological condition for which there is no cure. Despite her diagnosis, at the time of Maria’s article, Veronica’s can-do attitude and seize-the-day approach to life shone through the pages.
When she passed away from MSA in 2017, Veronica was 69 years old, but she had accomplished so much, having produced the first Irish farmhouse cheese – Milleens – with her husband Norman in 1978 and kick-starting the Irish farmhouse cheese movement from her Beara Peninsula farm.
Two years prior, in 1976, she first started experimenting with cheesemaking – that was 50 years ago. To think the Irish farmhouse cheese sector is fewer than five decades old is a wonder, given the depth, variety and quality we have available to us today. From Veronica’s initial tests, Ireland now boasts approximately 47 cheesemakers who make well over 100 varieties of cheese. Whether with goat, sheep or cow’s milk; perfumed with the sweet grasses of pastoral inlands or brined by the salty breezes of the Wild Atlantic Way, there is now an Irish cheese for nearly every region and style.
“Many people have come up to me and said, ‘You have no idea how much your parents have inspired me and impacted my life,’” says Quinlan Steele, Veronica and Norman’s son, who has operated Milleens since the early 2000s. “I always say, ‘You think they impacted your life – you have no idea how much they’ve impacted mine!’
“My mother would light up any room she walked into,” he continues. “She was a great ‘people person’ – and as the farmhouse cheese sector developed, there was a realisation of ‘there’s room for lots of people to do this’. It’s been wonderful to watch other cheesemakers grow.”
Veronica Steele Perpetual Cup
At the 2026 Irish Cheese Awards, which took place on 23 September in Cloughjordan, Co Tipperary, a new trophy was presented to the winner of the supreme champion award: the Veronica Steele Perpetual Cup. This pays homage to Veronica’s legacy from within the community she helped create. Aside from kickstarting the Irish farmhouse cheese sector, Veronica was also a founding member of CAÍS, the association of Irish Farmhouse Cheesemakers. Throughout her career, she was happy to share her expertise with other aspiring cheesemakers.
“It’s brilliant that 50 years after Veronica first dabbled in the art of cheesemaking, there is a perpetual trophy in her name,” Quinlan says.
“This is most appropriate, as she described cheesemaking as ‘a constant pursuit of perfection’.”
Milleens was a bold product for 1970s Ireland, when the nation’s palate was preferential to mild supermarket cheddar or processed cheese. This semi-soft, washed rind wonder evolves in texture and flavour as it matures. The rind blooms in different shades, depending on the weather and the natural bacteria in its environment. Norman and Veronica were ahead of their time and taking a chance, but in Veronica’s own immortalised words, “You can never step twice into the same stream,” – a fitting quote for both cheesemaking and life in general.
“For two years, Veronica experimented, and in 1978 she first made Milleens and it changed her life, my life – many peoples’ lives,” Quinlan says. “They set to work creating this business – the first of its kind – and it inspired a huge artisan food movement.
“Even though we’re in this 50 years, we’re still learning and developing,” he adds. “People think of us as the institution, and I feel we’re still the new guys.
“It’s so important that we continue to share our knowledge and give everyone a winning chance, because cheesemaking is complex – it takes years to get it right and we’re still learning so much.”
• milleenscheese.com
2026 CAÍS Irish Cheese Awards
Supreme Champion Leitrim Hill Creamery
The room exploded in raucous applause when it was announced that Leitrim Hill Creamery had won the Veronica Steele Perpetual Cup.
Its flagship raw milk goat’s cheese, Cnoc Liatroma, is tangy and creamy, with a generous, tongue-coating umami flavour.
Where many young goat cheeses flourish with complementary flavours, this is a standalone cheese – a true taste of its terroir. It is notoriously difficult for a young, soft goat’s cheese to win an “overall” award, but it’s easy to see why the judges, who travelled to Ireland from France and Britain as well as within Ireland, found this little cheese from lovely Leitrim to be their stand-out.
Leitrim Hill Creamery was founded by Lisa Gifford in 2022, after she moved to her family’s native Co Leitrim after growing up in New York. In her early 70s, Lisa learned the art of cheesemaking and soon after moving to Leitrim, she invested in some goats and got to work.
Her daughter Gypsy and partner, Richelle, joined her and together they have built a sustainable family business featuring not just their amazing cheese, but also ice cream and other products, which they sell online and at their Hidden Corner Cheese Shop in Carrick-on-Shannon.
“My great-grandmother left Ireland in the late 1800s and my mom had a dream to come back here and create a legacy for the family – to have land back in the family – and to do it through cheese,” Gypsy tells Irish Country Living. “That [legacy] was definitely realised today, but winning Supreme Champion was also incredibly surprising. We’re in a room of legends here, and everyone has been so incredibly kind and supportive. “I’m really proud of our little cheese.”
• leitrimhillcreamery.com
Special recognition award John and Sally McKenna
The 2026 Irish Cheese special recognition award honoured the work and lives of Ireland’s most-loved food writers, John and Sally McKenna, who have not only spent years writing about the Irish farmhouse cheese sector, but have supported them by being a voice within the media and celebrating the diversity of cheeses we have developed over the past 50 years.
“We kind of grew up together, didn’t we?” Sally said upon accepting their award. She and John settled down in west Cork where so many cheesemakers operated in the 80s and 90s, and have been friends and neighbours to the Irish cheesemaking community, in addition to singing their praises within the pages of their McKenna’s Guides. She and John both referred to Irish cheesemakers as a “crazy” community; never afraid of taking chances and significantly adding to Ireland’s food scene.
• guides.ie
A great year for Killeen
On 23 May 2026 Killeen Farmhouse Cheese was awarded supreme champion for their extra mature goat’s cheese at the 10th annual Artisan Cheese Awards. At the Irish Cheese Awards on 23 September, they added three best in class awards to their list of 2026 achievements. Made by Dutch-born Marion Roeleveld, Killeen Farmhouse Cheese was originally based on traditional gouda. The cheese is made with pasteurised goat’s milk and their extra mature variety is aged between 12 and 18 months.
Marion’s partner, Haske, founded their 50ac goat farm in Portumna, Co Galway, in 1990, and Marion first started making cheese in 2004.
Over the past two decades, Killeen has become one of the most highly decorated cheeses in Ireland, and they now make cheese from the milk of all 200 goats on the farm.
“I didn’t expect to win three classes, but now we know it wasn’t just a once off – we weren’t just lucky in May,” Marion says, laughing. “Apparently, we are doing something right. I’ve always loved cheesemaking, but it’s funny, even after 20 years, at times I still don’t know what I’m doing,” she adds.
“The milk varies every day; it depends on what the goats eat and you have to stay on your toes, but that’s the beauty of it.”
• killeencheese.ie
Watch interviews with some of the winners here:
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