DUCKETT’S AGED CAERPHILLY

• UNPASTEURISED COW’S MILK
• AGED 6 - 9 WEEKS

Despite its Welsh origins, Caerphilly has been made by West Country cheesemakers since the 1800s. Originally a way to generate some short-term cash while their cheddars matured, it has since become an honorary Somerset cheese in its own right – and for good reason.

With its fresh character and clean lactic tang, Duckett’s Aged Caerphilly is the perfect foil to our Cheddar. Summer grass and raw mushroom flavours meld into a long savoury/umami finish. The real beauty of our Aged Caerphilly, however, is the contrast between the crumbly interior and the softer area under the rind, essentially giving you two cheeses in one.

We make Duckett’s Aged Caerphilly alongside our Cheddar, using the same raw, unpasteurised milk. The process is much the same initially …until the cheddaring stage. For our Caerphillies, the curd slabs aren’t stacked and turned. Instead, they’re left to drain, before being milled and pressed into moulds. The salting stage comes at the end, when the cheeses go into our caerphilly brine bath, containing the same brine we’ve used since the 1990s!

We call our Aged Caerphilly 'Duckett's' in honour of Chris Duckett. Chris was from nearby Wedmore and his family had been making Caerphilly on their farm since the 1920s. When they gave up farming in the 90s, Chris moved his cheesemaking operation over to Westcombe, although sadly ill-health forced him to retire a few years later.

Having become very fond of Chris's beautiful Caerphilly, and not wanting to see it disappear, we adopted his recipe and continue the Duckett family’s tradition here at Westcombe. We even diverted a spring through one of our cellars to make a dedicated Caerphilly ageing room, creating the perfect temperature and humidity for the cheese’s maturation.