Strong cheese - best non-wine drink?

[jeral Profile]

Is there a good drink for people who don't like red wine, the usual tipple to accompany strong cheese?

Cider is good with a quick lunchtime ploughman's but a bit gassy and voluminous for an evening meal. Maybe there's an apple liqueur that could be diluted to say schooner size?

All ideas welcomed. Ta.

[Seatallan Profile]

Calvados might work...

[Suffs Profile]

There are some very good traditional still ciders about ... they're my preference ... and a bottle between two is ideal to go with cheese at the end of a meal

Whin Hill is a smooth still medium cider made here in Norfolk ... very drinkable, not at all gassy ............ and Heron Valley (made in Devon) is a bit drier and fantastic with a good mature farmhouse Cheddar.


https://www.whinhillnorfolkcider.co.uk/

https://www.heronvalley.co.uk/products/still-dry-cider


Or to go with a blue cheese, what about Perry? Love it ... and again, one glass between two is a sippable amount, like a good dessert wine.

https://culturecheesemag.com/cheese-pai ... ese-perry/

[Sloe-Gin Profile]

Any clues as to the kind of cheese?

[Stokey Sue Profile]

The wine to go with cheese doesn’t have to be red, many people prefer white

A sweet dessert wine is traditional with strong blue cheeses such as Roquefort, but a white wine with body and not too much sharp acidity is fine with most cheeses, not so different from cider after all

South African Chenin Blanc, French picpoul or various Chardonnays might work well

[Seatallan Profile]

I also think sherry can work really well with cheese.

[jeral Profile]

Thanks all

I'll read up on the still cider and on perry whilst creamy white wines I am familiar with so all are appealing options. Sherry, perhaps less so as no-one I know drinks it and I like only the pale dry version. Calvados, I'll have to get some to experiment with.

Sloe Gin, re which strong cheese: My logic is simply that mild ones don't tend to conflict noticeably so the usual strong-flavoured ones found on a mixed cheeseboard.

I suspect I just might enjoy experimenting with these new ideas

[Stokey Sue Profile]

IanInFrance is a strong advocate of white wine with cheese, he finds the rich reds can fight with or overpower cheeses

[northleedsbhoy Profile]

I’ve never been known to conform with the principles of red wine with meat white with fish etc simply because I really only enjoy red wine. I’ll maybe have a glass of white if I’m sharing a bottle and the other person is a non red wine drinker or the occasional glass of fizz at weddings, Christmas etc.

I do enjoy wine with strong, or any cheese which obviously will be red wine. I also like a glass of Port with cheese. I think people should drink what they like with any type of food and forget about tradition.

Cheers
NLB

[Pampy Profile]

Completely agree, NLB. I'm a red wine drinker and only use white for cooking (apart from sparkling white, in whatever form).
I haven't eaten red meat for 55 years but do eat poultry and fish and am quite happy to drink red wine with them. And I also agree that port is excellent with cheese. As you say, people should drink what they like (although I was soundly trounced for saying this a few years ago!).

[ZeroCook Profile]

IanInFrance is a strong advocate of white wine with cheese, he finds the rich reds can fight with or overpower cheeses

Totally agree. And a lot to do with the effect of various red wine compounds on the taste buds and taste mechanisms that can clash with the effect of those in strong cheese IMO.

Not sure where the red wine with cheese convention came from in any case.

Speaking of white dessert wines - a good Sauternes is amazing and I'm usually a very dry white wine die-hard Not cheap but so worth trying.

[northleedsbhoy Profile]

:clap Completely agree, NLB. I'm a red wine drinker and only use white for cooking (apart from sparkling white, in whatever form).
I haven't eaten red meat for 55 years but do eat poultry and fish and am quite happy to drink red wine with them. And I also agree that port is excellent with cheese. As you say, people should drink what they like (although I was soundly trounced for saying this a few years ago!).

Ahh, you and me both have been trounced for drinking what we like . Can’t really understand why but to some folks it’s a serious breach of etiquette to dare to have something one likes rather than conform to established principles . It really annoys me when when waiters give me a hard stare for ordering what I enjoy.

Cheers
NLB

[ZeroCook Profile]

IanInFrance is a strong advocate of white wine with cheese, he finds the rich reds can fight with or overpower cheeses

Totally agree. And a lot to do with the effect of various red wine compounds on the taste buds and taste mechanisms that can clash with the effect of those in strong cheese IMO.

Not sure where the red wine with cheese convention came from in any case.

Speaking of white dessert wines - a good Sauternes is amazing and I'm usually a very dry white wine die-hard Not cheap but so worth trying.

[scullion Profile]

I’ve never been known to conform with the principles of red wine with meat white with fish etc simply because I really only enjoy red wine.

my partner told me he didn't like white wine. i bet him that he couldn't tell the difference in a blind test - he said he would be able to - so as i had a bottle of each open to feed the vinegar mothers, i made him do it.
he got it wrong.

[Stokey Sue Profile]

I’ve never quite understood liking only red or only white - wines very so much, I like many examples of each

Having said which, I’ve been able to taste the difference in the last year as anything made from black grapes - vinegar, red wine, even white wines like some champagne made from black grapes has tasted bad. So I suppose it would be possible for a sensitive palate in good working order to detect the chemical(s) responsible for that even without the revulsion

And it depends on the quality - when I went to wine tasting club I might not have been able to reliably tell house white from house red blind, but I could certainly have told a decent Sauvignon Blanc from a Shiraz even without a multiple choice

[Seatallan Profile]

Speaking of white dessert wines - a good Sauternes is amazing and I'm usually a very dry white wine die-hard Not cheap but so worth trying.

Oooh yes! Love a Sauternes.

[jeral Profile]

In blind tests, there's also like for like, e.g. a cab sauv vs. a white pinotage could have the same sort of mouthfeel as would beaujolais vs frascati (assuming same temp). I doubt I'd mistake a verdicchio for a shiraz (both of which I like), but don't know without testing.

Interesting question about where the red/cheese tradition comes from. I'd guess imported, as UK wines were sweeter so we'd have gone from port to sherry or sweet wine. Something to look up when life's not too short

[Stokey Sue Profile]

I think the red with cheese tradition may be as simple as if cheese is at the end of a meal you tend to have moved on to red wine after the starters, soup, fish

Classic gentleman's club dinner of soup-meat-cheese would have a bottle of heavy duty red as standard

In France cheese comes between main course (usually meat) and dessert, at least partly so you can finish the wine with the cheese

[northleedsbhoy Profile]

I rarely end a meal with cheese as I prefer a pudding/dessert or whatever it’s called these days or nothing at all. However when I visit friends we normally have a mid to late evening tray of cheese, pickles, pork pie, biscuits, grapes etc accompanied by whatever drink each prefers whether it be white, red or port.

Cheers
NLB

[Lusciouslush Profile]

I'm very much a red wine girl & very rarely drink sweet/ish wine, but quite a few years back now Royal Tokaji with blue cheese was a revelation......!