Experience the taste, taste the experience

A quality night for Barber's

18/12/2009

Somerset cheese-makers AJ & RG Barber picked up two awards at the 2009 Quality Food Awards, held at The Hurlingham Club in London last night. The awards, now in their 30th year, are the most prestigious awards in the food industry and recognise the best tasting food and drink products available in the UK.

Barber’s 1833 Vintage Reserve Cheddar scooped the award for Best Cheese, whilst Sainsbury's Farmhouse Butter, made by the Barber family, picked up Best Dairy & Milk Product.

“Winning these awards is a fantastic achievement”, say Giles Barber, Director of Barber’s. “We are passionate about creating exceptional dairy products and have been so for almost two hundred years; we have been supplying Sainsbury’s with some of their cheese and butter for fifty of those, so we are delighted to have been recognised by the industry.”

The Quality Food & Drink Awards were the second set of awards in a week for the Barbers. Last week, Barber's 1833 Vintage Reserve scooped the award for best cheese, dairy and milk product at the Caterer Excellence in Food Awards, held at The Dorchester in London.

The Barber family have been making cheese and butter on their farm in Ditcheat, Somerset since the 1800s. The family are the sole guardians of a collection of traditional starter cultures, bacteria occuring naturally in the milk and isolated for their great flavours and used to start the process of turning the milk into cheese. Each strain offers a particular flavour and character: some are better for giving a savoury end note to the cheese, others for a sweeter finish.

Barber's 1833 Vintage Reserve Cheddar is available from Waitrose, Fortnum & Mason, Wholefoods, delicatessens nationwide and at the Barber’s online shop at www.barbers1833.co.uk. A 190g wedge retails at £1.99 Sainsbury's Farmhouse Butter retails at £1.26 per pack and is available in Sainsbury's stores nationwide.

For more information and/or photography, please call Claire on 07590 262 531 or email claire@storypr.co.uk