Two years ago, early in my cheese portrait painting series, I painted a Scottish blue cheese called "Strathdon Blue". Of all the paintings from that series, this one has been the most popular.
After I sell a painting, I make print reproductions available and the print if Strathdon Blue has sold more than any other. Before launching my travels in June, I looked up the cheese and contacted the maker, Rory Stone. He was humble and humorous in his email reply and invited me to stop in if I happened to be nearby. Yesterday, I did just that.
Eileen, Barb and I were picked up at the bus station in Inverness (where Loche ness resides) by Eileen's dad, John. He was nice enough to make a detour on our 90 minute drive to our eventual highland destination. The dairy , Highland Fine Cheeses Ltd, in Tain was a short drive. Rory met us on a corner to guide us in since it was a bit hidden on a back road.
Immediately, he handed us hairnets and shoe covers to go on a tour of the facilities.
Rory Stone, cheese maker, tour guide and humorist- was generous and gave a tour of all the facilities.
Trying to keep up with Rory on tour.
The tour was really informative on how each of his cheeses develop. Here, Rory showed us how the Strathdon would age into a beautiful blue cheese. Above, he's holding a week old wheel.
Rory was constantly taking core samples from wheels and offering us tastings. It was fun to try his experiment of some Strathdon made with sheep's milk, as opposed to the regular cows milk. It was incredible. I want more of that!!!!.
Rory kept stacking wedges for us to take with us after sampling them - hence the smiles all around.
John and Eileen, on a cheese high.
And so after a witty informative and delicious tour we said thank you as many times as time would allow and then bid farewell.
Heading towards Alligin, in Torridon, the highland village where Eileen grew up, we talked about our tour with pleasant surprise and grateful for the unexpected bounty Rory gave us to take away.
Like most of our trip, we were blessed with extraordinarily good weather for our arrival.
Though it seemed like a sunny afternoon, we actually arrived in time for an incredible late dinner after 7 pm. The latitude being so high that the sun sets around 10 pm and the sky gets dark around 11, but not nearly as dark as it gets in Philly.
Very cool to see the origin of our coveted Geno original! I bet it pairs well with a peaty Islay?
ReplyDeleteThat's amazing... Be careful, though, they may demand royalties!
ReplyDeleteWe feel most human when we can make a connection with our origins and sources. It must have felt like when you went to Mecca during your Muslim phase.
ReplyDeleteHey, what fun! Great pics of the cheese room. I loved reading this, M! I'm curious about how their sheep blue tasted.
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