Price range: £3.80 through £22.80
Beauvale is a wonderfully soft and creamy British blue made by the Stilton experts at Cropwell Bishop. Rich and buttery with delicate blue veining, it combines sweet creaminess with gentle saltiness and just a touch of peppery spice.
Beauvale is what happens when a family who know an awful lot about making Stilton decide to make a completely different kind of blue cheese.
Made by Cropwell Bishop Creamery in Nottinghamshire, Beauvale is soft, creamy and wonderfully mellow, with delicate blue veining running through a rich, buttery paste. If you like Gorgonzola Dolce, you’ll probably find something familiar here, but Beauvale has very much developed an identity of its own.
Cropwell Bishop is, of course, famous for making traditional Blue Stilton, but Beauvale shows another side to their cheesemaking. Rather than crumbly and robust, this is soft and yielding, with a much gentler blue character. It’s a brilliant example of how British cheesemaking can respect tradition without being constrained by it.
Beauvale was created by Robin Skailes of the family behind Cropwell Bishop Creamery. Having spent generations making one of Britain’s most traditional cheeses, the family wanted to experiment with a softer style of blue.
The inspiration came partly from the wonderfully creamy blue cheeses of Italy, particularly Gorgonzola, but the idea was never simply to copy one. Instead, they used all that knowledge of blue cheesemaking to create something new at home in Nottinghamshire.
I really like that about Beauvale. Cropwell Bishop could quite happily have carried on making excellent Stilton — but cheesemakers are curious people, and sometimes curiosity leads to something rather delicious.
Beauvale is made with pasteurised cow’s milk and Penicillium roqueforti, the blue mould responsible for those distinctive veins.
The curds are treated gently and hand-ladled into moulds, helping retain more moisture and create that lovely soft texture. As the cheese matures, the blue develops through the paste while the cheese itself becomes increasingly creamy and yielding.
The result is very different from Cropwell Bishop’s Stilton. Instead of a crumbly texture and powerful blue character, Beauvale is smooth, buttery and almost spreadable when perfectly ripe, with just enough blue spice to stop all that creaminess becoming too much of a good thing.
Beauvale always reminds me a little of Gorgonzola Dolce. It has that same wonderfully soft, creamy texture, although it holds itself together just enough to make getting it onto a cracker slightly less hazardous!
The aroma is gentle, milky and slightly earthy. Taste it and you get lovely sweet cream and butter first, followed by the blue bringing a gentle saltiness, savoury depth and just a little peppery spice.
There’s nothing aggressive about Beauvale. The blue builds gradually rather than arriving all at once, and there’s a lovely mellow nuttiness in the finish.
If you’re someone who says you don’t like blue cheese because it’s too strong, Beauvale is one I’d put in front of you. And if you already love blue cheese, don’t worry — there’s still plenty here to keep you interested.
Jen’s note: Beauvale takes its name from the Vale of Belvoir, close to where it is made. Even better, the original logo was designed with the help of children from a local Montessori school. Cheese and a bit of community involvement — what’s not to like?
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Delivery and Collection
Ingredients (Allergens are listed in capitals)
MILK, salt, starter cultures, rennet, Penicillium Roqueforti
Normal opening Monday – Saturday 9am – 4pm until:
Sunday 22nd 9am – 4pm
Monday 23rd 9am – 4pm
Christmas Eve 9am – 12pm
Christmas Day Closed
Boxing Day Closed
Friday 27th Closed
Saturday 28th 9am – 4pm
Sunday 29th Closed
Monday 30th 9am – 2pm
Tuesday 31st 9am – 2pm
New Year’s Day Closed
Thursday 2nd January Closed
Friday 3rd 9am – 4pm then open as normal
After Christmas our courier delivery slots start from 8th January.
