A new venture aimed at giving Scottish cheese the cultural status and global reverence of Scottish Whisky launched today. Tanny Gill, Scotland’s only World Cheese Awards judge, announced the Scottish Cheese Academy as the first of its kind in the country.
Aiming to deliver a number of services designed for luxury hotels, fine dining restaurants, retailers, international visitors and cheese lovers, the initiative will deliver globally recognised Academy of Cheese certified programs to help ensure that hospitality staff are qualified to industry standards.
With specialist masterclasses offering workshops that will focus on cultural pairing – including advanced cheese and Scotch Whisky matching, gin pairings and seasonal wild-food integration – the academy will offer sessions focussing on storytelling, provenance and the history of Scottish artisan food.
Mr Gill (pictured above), said: ‘Delivering certified cheese education, bespoke hospitality training and cultural tourism experiences, the new academy intends to bring sommelier-level expertise to this celebrated speciality.
‘Hospitality teams need the confidence to sell and describe artisan cheese with the same fluency they use for wine. Equally, however, the academy will deliver the high-end sensory experiences that food lovers need to truly understand the history and flavour profiles of our amazing cheeses.
‘My goal is to raise the standard of service across the hospitality sector and to champion our heritage with the same rigour applied to the world’s finest wines and whiskies.’
The Scottish Cheese Academy is now open for enquiries regarding training partnerships, course bookings and media collaborations.