Most food producers operating at the artisan end of their market share a version of the same origin story. A person falls in love with a traditional food, learns the craft, sets up a small operation, and builds something of genuine quality. The story of Mike’s Fancy Cheese follows that arc, but what makes it worth telling in detail is what Mike Thomson actually built, and how the cheese he makes has gone on to represent Northern Ireland in international competitions and specialist shops in a way that the region’s food scene had rarely managed before.
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The Producer Behind the Name
Mike Thomson founded Mike’s Fancy Cheese in Ballymena, County Antrim, after a period working with and learning from the traditions of English blue cheese making. The name was chosen with an ironic awareness of artisan food naming conventions, which tend towards the earnest and the pastoral. Thomson opted for something more direct and, in a quiet way, more confident. The full story of his background and the creamery is told through the Meet the Maker section of the Indie Füde site. The name does not beg for approval. The cheese makes the argument.
The creamery operates on a deliberately small scale. This is not a scaling problem in search of a solution; it is a structural choice. Small-batch production with raw milk from a single trusted local herd requires a level of attention and consistency that cannot be maintained at industrial volume. Thomson has chosen to make less cheese and make it properly rather than expand in ways that would require compromises; the product would not survive.
This is a common choice among the best artisan food producers, and it creates a particular kind of buying experience. Mike’s Fancy Cheese is not always easy to find. It is stocked by specialist retailers who have made the effort to source it correctly, and it sells through those channels to buyers who know what they are looking for. Indie Füde is one of those retailers. The values behind that sourcing approach are set out in the Indie Füde story, and the relationship between the shop and the producer is the kind of direct, ongoing connection that characterises the better end of artisan food retail.
Young Buck: The Cheese That Changed the Conversation
Young Buck is the only cheese currently produced under the Mike’s Fancy Cheese name, and it is one of the most discussed artisan cheeses made anywhere in the United Kingdom and Ireland. It is a raw milk blue cheese made in the Stilton tradition, which means crumbly open-textured paste, developed blue veining, a natural rind, and a flavour built around the combination of fat, salt, and the complex character that comes from the blue mould’s interaction with raw dairy.
The raw milk is central to everything that makes Young Buck distinctive. Unpasteurised milk retains the naturally occurring microorganisms that contribute to flavour complexity in a way that pasteurised milk cannot. The result is a cheese with genuine depth, a long finish, and a flavour profile that develops as it sits on the palate rather than presenting itself all at once and disappearing.
Young Buck has won awards at international cheese competitions, including the World Cheese Awards, where it has been judged against the best blues produced anywhere in the world. That competitive record matters not because cheese should be reduced to a score but because it confirms that the quality observable in the eating is recognised by people who taste cheese professionally across the full range of what is made.
What the Cheese Actually Tastes Like
For those who have not tried Young Buck, the starting point for description is the Stilton comparison: savoury, complex, bold, crumbly. But the raw milk gives it a character that most Stilton cannot match, a richness and persistence of flavour that makes the eating experience more layered than the category description suggests.
The initial impression is the familiar combination of salt and blue that defines the category. Then the fat in the paste contributes a slight sweetness that plays against the savouriness. Then the earthiness that characterises raw milk cheese, a quality that comes directly from the milk and the herd producing it, adds depth. The finish is long. This is not a cheese that is there and then gone; it stays with you and rewards the attention you give it.
The texture is crumbly without being dry. It slices well for a cheeseboard, crumbles well for cooking, and holds together enough to serve on a cracker without disintegrating on the way to the mouth. These are practical qualities that matter when you are serving it to people who are forming a first impression.
Why Northern Ireland and Why Now
The question of why world-class artisan cheese is being made in Northern Ireland is worth addressing, because the region does not have the established cheese-making reputation of Cork, Tipperary, or the traditional English counties. The answer has several parts.
Northern Ireland has excellent dairy. The island of Ireland’s grass-fed farming tradition produces milk with qualities, particularly in terms of fat content and flavour complexity, that make it an exceptional raw material for artisan cheese. The agricultural base was always there. What was missing for much of the twentieth century was the cheesemaking tradition and the market.
Both have developed over the past two decades. A generation of producers, of whom Thomson is one of the most prominent, has learned techniques from established traditions, adapted them to local conditions and local milk, and created cheeses that are distinctly Irish and Northern Irish in character while being technically and competitively on a par with the best produced anywhere.
The market has caught up. Specialist retailers like Indie Füde have created the distribution infrastructure that allows small producers to reach buyers who appreciate what they are making. Without that retail layer, cheeses like Young Buck would reach a very limited audience. With it, they reach Belfast, London, Dublin, and beyond. The wider picture of Irish artisan food production is covered in depth across the Indie Füde blog.
Stocking Mike’s Fancy Cheese Through Indie Füde
Indie Füde stocks Young Buck directly and has done so as part of its commitment to sourcing from named Northern Irish and Irish producers. The relationship matters because cheese is perishable, and the chain of custody between producer and consumer affects the quality of the eating experience. Cheese that has been handled correctly, stored at the right temperature, and sold by someone who understands what it is will always arrive in better condition than cheese that has moved through a longer and less attentive supply chain. You can order Young Buck through the Irish blue cheese range for delivery across Ireland, Northern Ireland, and Great Britain.
For those building a cheeseboard around Mike’s Fancy Cheese, the Indie Füde shop also stocks the accompaniments that work best alongside Young Buck. Ditty’s oatcakes from County Londonderry are the natural cracker pairing, available through the crackers and biscuits range. A fig preserve or a quality spiced chutney from the chutneys and jars range provides the sweet contrast that the boldness of the blue requires. The combination of a raw milk blue, a proper oatcake, and the right chutney is one of the simplest and most satisfying things you can put on a cheeseboard.
The Broader Significance
Mike’s Fancy Cheese represents something beyond the individual product. It is evidence that Northern Ireland can produce artisan food at the highest level when the conditions are right: good raw material, skilled production, direct relationships with specialist retailers, and a market that has developed enough to reward quality.
The cheese is part of a broader story that Indie Füde tells through its sourcing: that the island of Ireland, north and south, produces some of the most interesting artisan food in Europe, that most of it is underknown outside specialist circles, and that closing that gap is worth the effort.
Young Buck is one of the more compelling arguments for that position. The full range of Irish artisan cheeses available through Indie Füde, including Young Buck and a selection of cheeses from producers across the island, is available through the full Irish cheese shop. For those who prefer a curated selection of the best the range has to offer, the Irish cheese hampers bring together considered combinations of cheese and accompaniments in a single gift.