Tillamook Just Won Best Cheese in America Award—This Is the One To Try

Tillamook does good cheese right. Its whole milk mozzarella line is a testament to this, and its brick cream cheese might be even better than Philadelphia’s.

However, this brand is still best known for its Cheddar cheese. It hasn’t won numerous awards for this variety for nothing, including one of its most recent titles earlier this year: Best in Class for its Sharp Cheddar at the 2024 edition of the World Champion Cheese Contest.

Tillamook’s Award-Winning Farmers' Collection Hickory Smoked Extra Sharp White Cheddar

But that's not all. Most recently, Tillamook clinched the prestigious "Best USA Cheese Any Variety" title at the International Cheese and Dairy Awards (ICDA) for its Farmers' Collection Hickory Smoked Extra Sharp White Cheddar. With over 5,500 entries, Tillamook's 13 awards, including for its Cheddar, brick cream cheese, and cream cheese spreads, underscore its commitment to quality and excellence.

The company calls the award-winning Farmers' Collection Hickory Smoked Extra Sharp White Cheddar a “bold Cheddar balanced with notes of savory smokiness.” It also won this year’s best “Naturally Smoked Cheese.”

It’s a firm cheese with a creamy texture that’s been “cold-smoked” in hickory wood smoke, bringing out a perfect blend of nutty and buttery flavors. No wonder it won the 2020 World Championship Cheese Contest award, too. 

"For 115 years, [Tillamook County Creamery Association] TCCA has been committed to making extraordinary dairy, and it's an honor to be recognized at a show as prestigious as the International Cheese and Dairy Awards," Jill Allen, Director of Product Excellence, TCCA said in a press release. "We are proud to be among the best cheesemakers in the world. I am so excited to be a part of TCCA's legacy of quality, innovation, and dairy delight.”

While the Hickory Smoked Extra Sharp White Cheddar came out on top, several other Tillamook cheeses were close behind. The Seriously Strawberry Cream Cheese Spread won the “Soft Cheese Containing Sweet with Additives” and the "Specialty Soft or Cream Cheese with Additives” categories. At the same time, Tillamook’s Brick Cream Cheese received the title of the best "Cheese Spread, Any Variety.”

Tillamook's Farmers' Collection Hickory Smoked Extra Sharp White Cheddar and other award-winning cheeses are available at major grocers nationwide—making it easy so that you can test them, rather taste them, for yourself.