Colston Bassett Stilton

An intensely rich and creamy stilton with gentle blueing evenly spread throughout, it offers deep, complex flavours both on the paste and on the rind, which is like a taste sensation experience all on its own and together with the paste, it’s a heavenly experience. Colston Bassett is one of the last remaining dairies to hand-ladle their Stilton; it is this gentle, non-mechanical process of hand ladling that adds to the outstanding texture and creaminess experienced with this cheese that you just cannot achieve when not done by hand.

Production started at Colston Bassett Dairy, Nottinghamshire, in 1913 following the vision of a local doctor, Dr William Windley. He saw an opportunity for local farmers to work together for a common goal and create a product that would benefit the local area, he encouraged local farmers to join forces and raise the capital to build a dairy. He also convinced many locals to get involved and buy shares in the idea; around forty people invested in the endeavour, raising £1000 between them (a sum worth around £78,000 in 2017 financial value, to put this into context, worked out using the National Archives Currency Converter). The capital raised was used to purchase half an acre from the local squire and to build the dairy. Initially, there were sixteen local farmers, all within a two-mile radius of the dairy supplying milk to the enterprise, and all of whom had shares in the operation. A hard-pressed Cheddar was the first cheese to be produced; this was due to wartime restrictions that meant blue cheese was seen as too luxurious at that time. In the 1920s, Stilton production started at the dairy and continued up until World War II, when rationing came into force in January 1940, and Stilton production had to once again cease. Only government-approved cheese styles were allowed until the end of rationing in 1954 (Fourteen long years of food restrictions that nearly saw the end to all British artisan cheese production). Following the recommencement of production, Stilton was produced all year around. The farmers supplying the dairy have today reduced to four, but this is due to farms becoming larger and land consolidated under one farm rather than the loss of any particular farm suppliers, it’s still the same pastures that have been grazed for over 100 years for Stilton production with the same traditional make methods used. This setup is perfect for cheese production, offering careful management of milking herds and the quality of the milk, which is able to offer consistency for the cheese. The cattle used for milk production across the four farms consist of Friesian, Ayrshire, and Holstein Friesian, which are all high-volume producing cattle and are all regularly seen as cheesemaking milk favourites.

Colston Bassett is produced today by Billy Kevan and his cheesemaking team, along with the company’s other flagship cheese, Colston Bassett Blue Shropshire. Since the company launched over a century ago, only four head cheesemakers have been at the helm, and this shows in the consistency of this spectacular cheese.

Colston Bassett is an exemplary version of Stilton and is one of only four cheesemakers now licensed to produce Stilton under its PDO (Protected Designation of Origin), which has been in place since 1996. This has dropped from six producers just in the last few years. Since 1996, for a cheese to use the name Stilton, it must conform to certain criteria stipulated in its PDO, such as the cheese must be produced in one of the three adjacent counties of Derbyshire, Leicestershire or Nottinghamshire, and only pasteurised milk can be used. It must have the traditional cylindrical shape, form its own crust/coat and not be pressed during the making process. It also must have the taste profile of a typical stilton and contain the delicate blue veining radiating from the centre.