A Palate Pleasing Cheese and Cocktail Fusion

Gorgonzola Dolce With Botanist’s Grapefruit Gin and Tonic

Welcome to cocktails and cheese!

In this blog, we are going to indulge the senses by pairing Gorgonzola Dulce and with a Botanist Grapefruit Gin and Tonic. Embark on this culinary journey that will leave your palate wanting more.

First, let’s look into the cheese and cocktail individually.

The Cheese

Gorgonzolas Dolce is the softest and youngest of the Gorgonzolas. It has a luscious, creamy body that should collapse easily. Occasionally, the body may have firm blue tumours. Gorgonzolas Dolce has a sweet and savoury taste with notable salt and lingering mild sourness. However, it has no bitter notes. Other flavours you may notices are fruity, nutty or earthy. To top it off, we will be pairing the cheese with some slices of pear.

The Cocktail

The gin and tonic is an old English classic: just gin and tonic often with lemon slice. Our variant replaces the lemon with grapefruit and gives the cocktail twist by adding a splash of elderflower syrup. This cocktail is heavy bodied with bitter, sharp acidity and moderate sweetness. The gin and tonic can also be infused with fruits, herbs, florals, and space, always served with iced.

The overall effect of well-made gin is a sense of a rich, organic, earthy or herbal flavour, coupled with cleanliness and clarity. Lower quality gins come across as thin or shallow in flavour, and sometimes metallic.

Why Should This Paring Work?

Remember – everyone is different so everyone will have their own opinions.

For us, the gin and tonic is a punchy cocktail. The Gorgonzola and pear meet that using powerful creaminess and fruity sweetness. Both balance each other out as the acidity, bitterness and fizz of the drink is softened by the savoury creaminess of the cheese and sweetness of the pear. The Gorgonzola has got bitter notes, which is important as the cocktail has plenty.

With the acidity of the cocktail reduced, more subtle notes, such as the the botanicals in the gin, the pear and the spice in the blue of the cheese, come forward. Gorgonzola’s viscosity also slows down the soft speed of the cocktail.

The Pleasure Of Big Flavours

Both Gorgonzola Dolce with pear and this fruity gin and tonic are both powerful, yet crowd pleasing. Judge for yourself whether they are good blend, but don’t think about it too much – just enjoy the two classics!

For the recipe and video watch here.