Australian Grand Dairy Awards 2024: Berrys Creek and Milani Minus Eight Degrees win big

A Gippsland cheesemaker and Brisbane confectioner have taken top honours at Australia’s Grand Dairy Awards. See all the winners here.

Alex Sinnott

@AlexSinnott1

3 min read

February 1, 2024 - 10:00PM

The Weekly Times

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A South Gippsland cheese and a Brisbane ice cream have taken out the grand champion titles at Australia’s pre-eminent dairy awards.

Berrys Creek Gourmet Cheese Oak Blue claimed the Grand Champion Cheese title at the 2024 Australian Grand Dairy Awards, the latest in a string of world-beating victories for the Fish Creek cheesemakers.

Owner-operator Barry Charlton said Berrys Creek had enjoyed a strong run of success in the past few years thanks to his staff and dairy farmer suppliers.

“I always say a cheesemaker is only as good as the milk that’s supplied to them by the farmer and the staff that put the hard yards in,” he said.

“We’ve been fortunate to have three excellent cheesemakers working for us and fresh, locally-sourced milk. They’ve been the ingredients to making the cheese an award winner.”

Berrys Creek Cheese owners Barry Charlton and Cheryl Hulls in their cheese storage room with their winning Oak Blue Cheese. Picture: Dannika Bonser

Brisbane-based gelato shop Milani Minus Eight Degrees was crowned as Grand Champion Dairy, for its peanut-caramel gelato, the second time in as many years the Sunnybank business has claimed the top honour.

Milani Minus Eight Degrees owner Yue Lin said a holiday to Italy two decades ago inspired his love of gelato, setting up an ice cream parlour soon after.

He said his favourite flavour in his award-winning range was chocolate but his wife’s pick was the winning peanut-caramel blend.

“We won the Grand Dairy Product champion award in 2017 and 2018 then 2022 and last year, so it has been very good for us,” Mr Lin said.

Eighteen different dairy product classes were awarded at the Melbourne Showgrounds function on Thursday night, with Floridia Cheese and Bulla also claiming trophies for Victoria.

Milani Minus Eight Degrees owner Yue Lin won best ice cream last year and has succeeded again in 2024. Picture: Nigel Hallett

Australian Grand Dairy Award chief judge Russell Smith said this year’s entries were testament to the innovation and creativity of producers.

“Each year we expect to taste exceptional dairy products,” Mr Smith said.

“Year after year, our expectations are exceeded. The class of products presented saw winners and finalists from across the nation – showcasing the breath of excellence Australian dairy has to offer.”

Alongside winning the grand champion title, Berrys Creek also won the blue cheese and goat/sheep/buffalo cheese for their Oak and Riverine blue cheeses respectively.

Melbourne-based Floridia Cheese won the best hard cheese category for its Pecorino Pepato while Colac-based Bulla won the cream category for its creme fraiche.

Dairy Australia marketing boss Glenys Zucco said 380 entrants across 18 categories ensured the creme de la creme of the industry was recognised.

“For 25 years, Dairy Australia has recognised the best of the best in Australian dairy,” Ms Zucco said.

“This year, we are pleased to have introduced a new partnership with the Royal Agricultural Societies to further strengthen the delivery of awards and ensure they remain the premier dairy awards within Australia.”

“We continue to be impressed by the quality of the entries year on year. This year was no exception.”