While New Years Eve is still very fresh in our minds, either in the form of fun memories or of a dull ache (or both) it seems like a perfect time to bring up the topic of alcohol. Or is it the worst? Anyway... People love wine and cheese. Wine and cheese together is like bread and butter: It's a no brainer and it's safe. More and more cheese lovers are opening up to the endless, equally enjoyable pairing possibilities of beer and cheese. It's like butter and jam. Still delicious, but more often enjoyed by the Brits. But what about spirits or liquor with cheese? While widely less experimented with, there can be some real winners when the right booze is consumed with the right wedge. It's like... pickles and peanut butter? It might not be obvious, but it sure can taste good.
In the Bay Area, mixing drinks is a profession almost on par with that of a talented young chef. Both create delicious, beautiful and often inventive fare that we love to put in our mouths. My neighbor happens to be one of those talented San Francisco mixologists bringing old fashioned drinks back to life and giving them a modern spin. She even has her own line of cocktail mixers to boot. So when she asks me to watch her cat while she's away, even though said cat is particularly old and spastic, and notoriously hard to lure inside, I always say Yes because I know she'll return with something for me much nicer than what I can find at my local Trader Joe's.
This time I got whiskey.
I won't pretend to know the difference between whiskey, bourbon or scotch, and since my head might explode if you tried to explain it to me, all I'm going to say about my bottle is that it tasted like dark, sweet liquor. But definitely not the kind that makes you gag. I should know: I consumed my fair share of SoCo and Sailor Jerry's in college. I knew instantly upon taste that drinking it solo was not for me, and I wouldn't want to insult the love, care and the year(s) put into it by trying to concoct my own mixed drink (Is anyone else intimidated by the thought of making a whiskey cocktail?) So I did as most humans do and I went for what I know: Cheese.
Cheese
Picking L'Amuse, a two year aged Gouda imported by Essex Cheese Co. by way of Holland was no hard choice. L'Amuse is waxy, crunchy, butterscotch-y, salty and bold, and I often suggest to my customers that they pair it with whiskey though I never have myself. The combination was nice, but I suppose my palate is still not used to appreciating whiskey outside of a mixed drink. I know there are multiple wonderous combinations of cheese and spirits out there. This one just didn't move me. I have a hunch that Capriole Farm's O'Banon, a fresh goat milk disk wrapped in bourbon-soaked chestnut leaves would be a safe one to try, or perhaps I need to venture into the scotch or gin arena. At least I gave it a shot rather than taking shots. I saved the bottle for my rowdy friends.
