Hotel guests are spoilt for choice with cheese

Aug 10 2007 by Liam Murphy, Liverpool Daily Post

MORE than 100 guests attended one of Wirral’s leading hotels last night to help choose the region’s favourite cheese.

Along with expert cheese tasters, they sampled a dozen different regional cheeses in four separate categories.

The event at Thornton Hall Hotel was part of the preparations for the Wirral Food and Drink Festival where the winners will be announced later this month.

Guests said last night’s cheese tasting had proved to be an eye-opening event for them, with Michael Henderson from Chester saying he had learned a lot about the intricacies of cheese tasting.

He said: “I knew there was a lot to tasting wines, but I had never realised there was quite so much to cheese tasting too.”

Deirdre Morley, from Neston, added: “It’s a wonderful selection of cheeses – I’m spoilt for choice.”

As well as cooking demonstrations by celebrity chef Brian Mellor, there were talks about the art of cheese tasting and which cheeses and wines accompany each other best.

Anne Benson, one of the event’s organisers, said there were around 130 people tasting the cheeses and voting on which were best.

Ms Benson said: “The winners were being voted on by the guests and the experts and out of that we will have an overall winner in each category.

“The winners will be announced at the Wirral Food and Drink Festival.”

The cheeses were split into four categories – Lancashire and Caerphilly, soft and semi-soft, hard cheese and blue cheese.

Expertise and sponsorship of the awards comes from the Cheese Shop, Chester, where owner Carole Faulkner is renowned for her expertise.

As one of the expert judges, she also shared her knowledge about what to look for in tasting cheese.

Earlier this week, Liverpool’s Cains Brewery and Malmaison hotel unveiled a special beer-soaked cheese, named the Cains Festival Cheese, as part of the Wirral Food and Drink Festival.

The festival, which started last year and had thousands of visitors over its two days, is supported again by ERDF funding from Wirral Council, Cains, The Mersey Partnership, North West Fine Foods and there will be fundraising by Claire House Hospice and the Lions.

Run by volunteers, the Wirral Food and Drink Festival takes place on Sunday, August 26, 10am to 5pm and Monday, August 27, 10am to 4pm. Check it out on www.wirralfoodfestival.co.uk

liammurphy