The Cheese That Earned Tillamook A Prestigious Award
Out along the foggy, scenic Oregon coast sits one of the main cheesemaking factories for the Tillamook County Creamery Association. The company is actually a farmer-owned co-op that formed in 1909. It remained regional, supplying cheese and ice cream largely to just the Pacific Northwest, until 2018, when the company set its sights on the rest of the U.S. Then, in 2024, the prestigious World Cheese Awards gave the cooperative the Best Cheddar award for the Tillamook Maker's Reserve 2014 Extra Sharp White Cheddar.
The Maker's Reserve program is a series of cheeses aged three and 10 years released annually. The 2014 version, released in 2024, is extra sharp and complex, with notes of brown butter and caramel. Sounds like the perfect cheese for an expertly crafted charcuterie board. It was this 10-year vintage that ended up with the title of best cheddar in the world from the U.K.-based Guild of Fine Food. Every year, the group puts on the World Cheese Awards in a different country. The judges are a rotating panel of cheese professionals from many different sides of the industry.
Other awards Tillamook has won
Earning the award for the best cheddar in the world is pretty big, but it doesn't end there. Just this year, in 2025, the creamery cooperative won three medals at the World Cheese Awards. The Hickory Smoked Extra Sharp White Cheddar earned the group a gold medal, while the Maker's Reserve Extra Sharp 2019 got a silver, and the Extra Sharp White Cheddar earned a respectable bronze medal.
The creamery isn't just winning awards for cheese, either. Earlier this year, the cooperative won golds for its Original, Jalapeño Honey, and Very Veggie cream cheese flavors at the International Cheese and Dairy Awards. In our ranking of cream cheeses, its taste helped it score well. In 2024, its Sea Salt & Honeycomb Toffee ice cream earned best frozen dessert from the Specialty Food Association's sofi Awards. The flavor is described as the perfect combination of sweet and salty. We're already fans of Tillamook ice cream's creamy, decadent base.