The Cheesemaker

Ashley McCoy is the owner of the Wicked Cheese Company.

“Cheesemaking is both an art and a science,” he says. Nothing beats experience. But training and technology are also an essential part of the craft.

Ashley McCoy was the General Manager and Production Manager of the famed King Island Dairies for five years. There he made triple cream brie, blue and smoked cheddar cheeses, and he helped to develop several other varieties. He spent time in France, Italy and the UK, learning the techniques of generations of cheesemakers.

After gaining formal qualifications in dairy technology, Ashley McCoy started his working life as a laboratory and dairy technician and later as a produce grader. He is also a qualified food safety auditor. “In our business, food safety is a priority,” he says. “We make no compromises in hygiene.”

There is solid science behind cheesemaking at Wicked Cheese. But there is also that something extra – the subtleties of taste and texture that result from secrets of the cheesemaker’s art, practised with the care and pride of a man who rejoices in his trade.