In 1979, Louis and Jane Grubb inherited Beechmount Farm from Louis’s father. The couple had a new vision for the farm – instead of growing food, they would make it into a dairy. With all their savings, they bought ninety dairy cows, and the fun (ahem, extremely hard work) began! The next year, Jane took a course on cheesemaking and decided it was time to expand their offering.  By the mid-1980s, Jane and Louis were making Irish farmhouse cheese that became extremely popular throughout Ireland and beyond.

Although they could have stopped with their flagship cheese, Cashel Blue, they have continued to strive for something new and delicious to add to their lineup. In 2017, they created the sheep’s milk cheese, Shepherd’s Store. This is a seasonal cheese, only produced between February and September, which is when the local herd of Irish Friesland sheep are lactating. So we must enjoy it while we have it, and oh boy do we enjoy it! This firm cheese has the round lusciousness of sheep’s milk as it ages, making it taste extra rich with flavors of brown butter, cashews, and hay. It is delightful paired with a creamy stout, grated over a big bowl of pasta doused in lamb ragu, in thick slabs on toast, or sliced over a buttered waffle and drizzled with maple syrup.