Winter Beverage Cheese Pairings
There’s nothing better than a nice, cozy, hot drink during these winter months to bring a bright spot to our short days.
Since there are so many classic wintertime beverages out there to enjoy, what better time to start doing so than now? Thanksgiving has just passed and Christmas is practically right around the corner, so I’ve challenged myself to come up with some cheeses that go well with classic winter beverages.
We’ve got hot chocolate, which for me brings childhood memories of coming back inside after a morning of sleigh riding on a snow day, rosy cheeked and half hypothermic, but never mind that because there’s nothing in the world that marshmallows and cocoa powder can’t fix.
For an alcohol beverage pairing I chose mulled wine, which I tasted for the very first time at a Christmas market in Berlin and instantly fell in love. I knew right then and there that none of my Decembers would ever be the same without proper, delicious, fortifying mulled wine.
I hope you enjoy the fruits of my labor (since eating cheese and drinking cozy drinks was such a heavy lift for me) and be sure to let me know which pairing is your favorite!
Hot Chocolate
Nancy’s Hudson Valley Camembert
As much as I would like to take credit for the unexpected genius of this pairing recommendation, I cannot. I heard about this duo from one of the cheese world’s most famous folks, Madame Fromage. I am so glad I took note, because it is absolutely mind blowing. The pairing for hot chocolate, ladies and gents, is Old Chatham Creamery’s Nancy’s Hudson Valley Camembert.
Unlike many pairings, this beverage and cheese pairing is just as much about the textures as it is about the flavors. With this particular wedge of heaven, the cheese has such a high moisture content that it reminds you much more of a triple creme brie-style cheese than a camembert. It’s made from cow’s milk and sheep’s milk, and it practically dissolves into a milky, silky moment of ecstasy a moment after hitting your tongue. The extra fat content from the sheep’s milk does incredible things for the texture as well, because it helps coat your entire mouth in the most lustrous way.
Both the drink and the camembert are incredibly velvety & lucious. I had actually bought this wedge a few weeks prior from my local hometown shop, The Corner Counter, which was founded last year by a woman named Lauren who worked for a while in the Murray’s cheese aging caves. I was worried that I had let the cheese sit in my fridge too long, but friends, this cheese was so ripe (possibly overripe) that it ended up working out in my favor, and the creamline had practically taken over the paste.
I paired Nancy’s Hudson Valley Camembert with a Starbucks hot chocolate, which I know, I know, I could have upped my game on quite a bit. But I was in a pinch, and I knew that this cheese would shine no matter what. I am very happy to report that after a thorough tasting, even though you may not think that cheese and hot chocolate would work together, they totally did!
The state of this wedge made it so delicate and silky after being in my mouth for just a moment, that the hot chocolate was practically thinner than the cheese! The mildly sweet flavor combined with just a tiny bit of gaminess from the sheep’s milk made it feel buttery with a unique twang. It stood up perfectly to the sweet hot chocolate thanks to that undertone, and I almost feel like a similarly textured cheese with only cow’s milk would get a little lost next to the hot chocolate. The silkiness from the sheep’s milk also helped the cheese stay with you on the finish just as much as the hot chocolate, so I got to enjoy them both for longer than I deserved!
Beemster 26-Month Gouda
Next up for hot chocolate (albeit a different - homemade - recipe!) I paired Beemster’s 26-month Gouda with a no-fuss hot chocolate recipe. I simply brought some 2% milk to a strong simmer in a medium-sized saucepan, added 2 parts 70% cacao dark chocolate and one part milk chocolate, added about a tablespoon of sugar, then let it all melt together for a few minutes. I then filled a mug with this elixir and voila! Homemade hot chocolate. It has a very deep chocolatey flavor, and isn’t too sweet, so as not to overpower our Gouda but still be able to stand up to it in a complementary way.
This gouda is a classic from Holland that practically needs no introduction. It’s got a gorgeous, toffee-caramel and chocolate cashew turtle vibe going on in every bite. It’s fatty and coats your entire mouth, just like a candy bar would. It’s also got those mind-blowing tyrosine crystals (a.k.a flavor crunchies) that form as the lactose is converted to lactic acid. Overall, this is an incredible snackable and practically addicting cheese.
With the pairing itself, I know that regular dark chocolate and this Gouda go beautifully together, so I wanted to drink the liquified version and see what happened! Because this hot chocolate is based on 70% cacao dark chocolate, it’s not very sugary at all. It really lets the flavors from the Gouda shine, and I almost think that the Gouda gets amplified with this great contrast and is punchier with the hot chocolate than it is on its own.
This cheese is washed down really nicely by the temperature and the consistency of the drink. I was surprised how easily it all melted off the insides of my cheeks, given how much it usually sticks. I can confirm: wine does not do that with this cheese! Overall, I don’t think this was an earth-shattering pairing, but one still definitely worth mentioning and giving a try!
Mulled Wine
During my time at home for Thanksgiving, I whipped up some mulled wine using Stonewall Kitchen’s mulling spices, which were very high-quality and potent! I diffused them into a bottle of Chianti Superiore 2021 by Banfi, which in hindsight may have been too dry of a wine pairing, since there was an incredibly dry finish that almost took away from the drinking experience. We still managed to finish the batch though, so it wasn’t too bad! This concoction made the entire house smell of winter in Europe while it was warming on the stovetop, better than any candles could have!
I paired four cheeses with the mulled wine, all raw cow’s milk Swiss alpine cheeses. Each brought its own unique experience to the drink, and it was really cool tasting relatively similar cheeses all at once and spotting their nuances!
Thunderstorm
First up, we have Thunderstorm, which I had never heard of before starting to work at my shop earlier this year. On the nose, it’s nutty and a little grassy. The taste is a dichotomy of things. It’s sweet yet acidic, crystalized yet creamy, fruity yet nutty - a real mind trip of a cheese! It’s also a bit vegetal in a Swiss mountain, Sound of Music, flora-and-fauna kind of way, but not dominating at all. With the mulled wine, it went very nicely! The dryness of the wine really wakes up your mouth because it’s such a sharp contrast to the creamy cheese. It definitely accentuates the cheese rather than buries it; it was like a lightning bolt to the mouth! Very interesting, and highly recommend this pairing.
La Charmant
Next, I paired La Charmant cheese, which I’d love to be able to link to but it’s the most difficult-to-find cheese on the entire internet, and still cannot find it anywhere! It’s a Swiss alpine cheese that’s rubbed with grape must, which imparts a unique fruitiness to the cheese. It has more of a sweetness on the nose than Thunderstorm, almost a sugary grassiness which is unsurprising given the must incorporation. It’s a bit creamy, with subtle crystallization. It gives a bit of dust on the finish, which was a pleasant offset from the fruity aspect. La Charmant worked differently with the mulled wine because they complemented each other very well with the dark fruit on both. It was very nice indeed, but not quite as interesting as the Thunderstorm pairing.
Le Gruyère AOP - 6 Month
Onto the king (or queen!) of Alpine cheeses, Le Gruyère AOP. I chose the 6-month to pair first, and then we’ll move on to the 18-month. It’s very exciting to get your hands on a genuine Le Gruyère this time of year to nibble on. This 6-month had a bit of - wait for it - cow’s derriere on the nose, but in a sweet way, kind of like how the French say that manure can have a sweet note. It’s classically nutty, and it had a little bit of a chalky texture in the mouth, again with a tiny bit of barnyard panache. It’s very nice overall, and has a lot of body with a complex flavor profile. The mulled wine however, for me, almost completely washed away the taste of the cheese, which did not happen with the first two cheeses. There was sadly nothing of it left after each finish of the wine. Although I would snack on this cheese again, I would not go for a mulled wine pairing.
Le Gruyère AOP - 18 Month
And now for the 18-month, which is a bit rare for a Le Gruyère cheese and my shop only got one shipment of it - we won’t be lucky enough to get a second anytime soon. I was very glad to snag a piece while I had the chance! It’s similar to the 6-month, but it has a stronger and more distinct note of caramelized onion. With the nuttiness, I got a roasted, skinned pecan note (and yes, I know that skinned/blanched pecans are not a thing, but that’s what I got!) It also has the most frequent crystals of any of these four cheeses. This 18-month did a better job of standing up to the mulled wine’s intensity, and the caramelized onion tone stays with you through the mulled wine’s punchy finish. In a way, the intensities almost cancel each other out. The Le Gruyère nearly goes away on the finish, but just enough of a yummy ghost of it stays with you, making this pairing a win for me.
