Alpe Loch The Dairy, Farm, Animals & Maker Alpe Loch is an exceptionally rare cheese made by Richard, a third generation cheesemaker, in the hills of Hittisau/Lingenau in Austria. Every summer, he climbs up to the creamery in the mountains and spends 100 days making this summer speciality - he makes just two cheeses per day. His wife Emma then washes each one by hand, every other day. The cheeses are then matured in the family cave for a year, before travelling to Bavaria to mature for an additional 6-12 months, before spending a final year in our Cambridge cellars. Sustainability and Climate Responsibility The milk that goes into Alpe Loch comes from one small, family owned and run farm, which allows the animals to live on the vast pastures of the Austrian mountains, eating organic, untouched grasses, herbs and flowers. The carbon footprint of free range cows is significantly lower than their barn kept counterparts as food doesn’t need to be grown for them elsewhere, so there are very few, if any, food miles involved in their feeding. Flavour Profile Alpe Loch is an intensely flavoured and beautifully matured summer milk mountain cheese. It has a fantastic crystallisation, deep, savoury flavour, with a tangy, almost fermented fruit flavour finish. Summary This cheese is matured for 1 year in Austria, 6-12 months in Bavaria, and an additional 12-18 months in our Cambridge cellars, and is made with raw cow’s milk and traditional rennet. The current cheese on sale is from July 2023.