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Murray's Beverage Pairing Guide

Wine and cheese. Beer and cheese. Bourbon and cheese. Tequila and cheese. Whiskey and cheese. Cocktails and cheese. Whatever you're drinking, we've got a cheese that pairs beautifully with it. Here are some general rules to creating delicious combinations.

Gin

The bright flavors of gin come from its botanicals—herbs, seeds, flowers, and spices added during production—especially peppery juniper.

Bourbon

Bourbon is one of the great American traditions, a whiskey often made in Kentucky, always with at least 51% corn, and aged in charred oak barrels creating its signature sweetness and depth.

Pair with

Caramelly, crystalline cheeses like Boerenkaas Gouda, which have the strength to stand up to bolder booze. With sweet bourbon, these cheeses become almost like dessert.

Whiskey

Whiskey is every bit as diverse, intricate, and nuanced as cheese, so it helps to know which whiskies go best with which cheeses. Unique and complex, its sweetness can enhance the caramel and toffee notes for which some cheeses are so beloved.

Tequila

Blanco tequila has clean, crisp agave flavors, with notes of honey, a buttery sweetness, and hints of limey citrus. Reposado tequila, meanwhile, gets aged in oak barrels for up to a year, emerging smooth and full-bodied, with smoky notes and hints of vanilla, lemongrass, and wildflowers. Aged for one to three years in oak barrels, añejo tequila develops a complex balance of dried fruit and piquant spice, with notes of butterscotch, and vanilla.

Pair with

A milder, sweeter Brie-style cheese like Jasper Hill Farm Moses Sleeper for blanco tequila. Reposado pairs beautifully with higher butterfat sheep's milk or water buffalo's milk cheeses like Casatica di Bufala. Try a firm, rich Alpine-style cheese like Challerhocker with añejo.

Vodka

Pairing vodka and cheese may seem counterintuitive, but the truth is that this clean spirit is well-suited for nuanced cheeses that help bring out the subtleties of its flavor.