For people who love to experience the explosion of various flavours in their drinks, cocktails are the way to go. Unlike the standard pre-made bottled drinks, cocktails are made by mixing multiple ingredients and finishing with a beautiful decoration.
When done well, you get a refreshing beverage that varies in taste. Depending on what you crave, you can have a strong one, a sweet one, a sour or bitter one. To make the experience even better, you find excellent foods to pair them with.
If you have not tried cocktails and cheese yet, now is your chance to do so. Cocktails and cheese are great pairs that everyone should try at least once in their life. Their flavours contrast each other. Still, they go well together.
Like cocktails, cheese also has many variations. You need to find the best ones that match well to enjoy the experience fully. Let this article assist you in finding that great pairing.
The Most Important Tip: Check the Base
Understanding your drink is always the first step. The most crucial ingredient that sets up the taste of your drink is its base. It could be vodka, gin, whiskey, or rum. By knowing what base your drink has, you can determine the best cheese that would go with it.
Here are some of the best pairings you can try:
- For Gin-Based Drinks: Gin is made from fermented grain as its base and then distilled later. That process gives it herbal and floral notes. The great news is that many types of cheese can go well with the taste of the fresh herbs. You can explore mild to strong cheese, from the white mould to smoked cheese or blue cheese.
- For Rum-Based Drinks: Rum is sweet in nature because of how it is distilled with sugar. You can partner it with any sweet cheese as well. Even cheeses that are served with sweet condiments would be a good pair for it. Try drinking your rum-based cocktail while having Gouda, blue cheese, or Emmental style cheeses on the side.
- For Whiskey: If you prefer whiskey-based cocktail drinks, they also have a sweet yet lightly burnt taste. Look for slightly sweet but flavourful cheese to go with it. If you opt for milder cheese, they would taste great with whisky-based drinks as well.
- For Vodka-Based Drinks: The base vodka does not have a strong taste. Therefore, base your cheese depending on what the other ingredients or drinks mix would be.
The basic rule is to identify the kind of base you have. It would determine the type of experience you would have for both the drinks and the cheese you eat with it. For example, not all gin tastes the same. Some would be made sweet, while others would be dry and floral. Which cheese would work will depend on the strongest taste and what you prefer to go with it.
Conclusion
As it is with finding the perfect pairing for any food and drinks, discovering the best cocktails and cheese pairing would require multiple trials until you find the good one. Trying out other people’s recommendations can help you start the journey, but since people have different preferences, the result will not always be the same for everyone. Enjoy the trial experience and keep the tips above in mind until you find your perfect pairing.
Why not bring the taste test at your own abode? Jim and Tonic can provide you with a gift set to let you enjoy some cocktails at home while also becoming a pro in making one. Our cocktail making set includes everything you need to make four different gin-based cocktails. Get yours now!
