I think quarantinis are in order, don’t you agree? My best friend’s mom, Jodi, first introduced me to the idea. I thought it had to be some twist on the martini but she’s showed me that’s not necessary. Any cocktail (or mocktail) can be a quarantini if you’re drinking it while social distancing, or if you’re actually stuck in quarantine! And what do we need with our tipples? Cheese, of course! Here are three cheese to go with three alcohols that are probably a part of the drink you may be holding right now. Reading this right as it pops into your mailbox this morning? It’s 5 o’clock somewhere, I’m not judging you!

Tres Leches with Gin

Gin is herbaceous, floral, juniper-y. Whether your quarantini is a martini, Negroni, French 75, Singapore Sling, G&T, a gin fizz, or some other delightful ginny drink, Tres Leches is going to be your cheese. It is a cow, sheep and goat’s milk cheese from Spain that is semi-firm and almost velvety in texture. It is sweet from the cow’s milk, grassy from the sheep’s and a touch tangy from the goat’s, making it an excellent pairing with the herbal alcohol. Their flavors won’t compete, – Tres Leches is the mellow partner to gin’s outgoing intensity – but instead they’ll balance each other, becoming a pair everyone enjoys having around.

Harbison with Bourbon

Bourbon is maybe my favorite alcohol? Ah gosh I take it back, that’s too much of a statement! I like bourbon a lot, I’ll leave it at that. Let’s stir up a Manhattan, Old Fashioned, Gold Rush, hot toddy, or mint julep! Once you have that bourbon drink in hand, grab a box of crackers and a wheel of Harbison, slice off that top rind and scoop away! This soft cheese from Jasper Hill Cellars in Vermont is wrapped in spruce bark, giving the cheese a slightly woodsy, almost smoky bacon flavor. Those flavors with some bourbon, oooooh shoot it’s too good. Eventually, you’ll ditch the crackers and just grab a spoon. Then, you’ll be scraping the rind for every little bit of cheese with your fingers, hoping there was some treasure trove you missed. Although at that point the cheese and your cocktail (let’s be real, second cocktail) will be gone, you’ll be so happy you had the experience at all. 

Casa de Mendevil with Tequila

Margarita, Paloma, Oaxacan Old Fashioned, Bloody Maria, tequila sour, these are some heavy hitters in my cocktail repertoire, especially as it gets warmer outside (spring, please be here, I want that sunshine! I want that new life with fluffy ducklings and flower buds and bunnies and stuff). Casa de Mendevil is my cheese of choice with these bright cocktails. This Portuguese cow’s milk cheese is firm, dry, and has similar herbal piquant flavors to tequila. Instead of having opposite flavors that balance each other like the gin and Tres Leches, Casa de Mendevil and tequila have similar flavors that enhance each other.

I’d love to hear about your favorite quarentinis and what cheeses you like to have with them. I know we can’t talk about them across the counter at the moment, but you can put them in the comments of this newsletter’s Instagram post, or if you call with a curbside order, tell me about the pairings then! I miss talking to you!

For the love of cheese and quarentinis of course,

Kiri