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.
Pair with
Something bright, springy, and fresh that will bring out the spirit’s citrusy, botanical notes, like Selles-sur-Cher or Cypress Grove Humboldt Fog.
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.
Pair with
A bold cheese that can stand up to whiskey’s gutsy flavors, like Murray's Cave Aged Original Stockinghall Cheddar, Bianco Sardo, or River's Edge Up in Smoke.
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.
Pair with
Complex cheeses with bold flavors, like Moliterno Al Tartufo or creamy cheeses like Murray's Double Creme Brie.
