MILAWA Cheese’s King River Gold was recently received more recognition at the Australian Grand Dairy Awards.

The highly awarded cheese took home the Champion Washed/ Mixed Rind Cheese category at the awards on October 31.

Milawa Cheese chief executive officer, Ceridwen Brown, said the award was well deserved and a testament to the hard work the entire team put into the cheese.

“It’s a cheese that every in the factory gets to put their hand on, so it’s a really good win for the whole team,” she said.

“I would especially like to shout out to our head cheese maker, Darren Lepoideiun, and our operations manager, Jack Condron, who has been working tirelessly to make the cheese as good as it is.”

Ms Brown said despite it being a stinky cheese, it has its followers boosting its popularity and what sets it apart is the time spent washing the cheese on a weekly basis.

“It starts of life similarly to a brie or a camembert, but we wash the outside of the cheese every week in the factory,” she said.

“That stops the white mould growing and allows the Brevi Bacterium Linens to grow and that produces the orange rind and a distinctive smell of wash rind cheese.”

The King River Gold Cheese is also made from locally sourced milk in the Kiewa Valley.