Giana Ferguson first encountered cheese during her childhood in Spain. She and her husband, Tom, have been making Gubbeen on the Ferguson family farm since 1980. Since that time, Gubbeen has become one of the best known of all the Irish farmhouse cheeses. All the milk used comes from their own mixed herd of Jersey, Friesian, Simmental and Kerry cows. The Fergusons also produce a version smoked by their son Fingal. Fingal chose to build the smokehouse rather than shipping the cheeses to a local smoker. Since then, he has developed the leading Irish charcuterie and smokehouse in the country. The young smoked cheese is delicate but shows the benefit of real smoking, as opposed to adding smoke flavour as is often practiced.
