Let me first be clear that gin and cheese have nothing in common except for being two of my favorite things. I don't recommend pairing them together but if, for example, you were at a cheese and wine tasting and then later that afternoon needed something to refresh your palate, well, gin might be just the thing.
It all began this past Saturday at the Seattle Cheese Festival, a yearly gathering of cheese geeks at Pike Place Market. At the festival, cheesemakers from all over the Pacific Northwest sample and sell their products and seminars are offered throughout the day. I attended a seminar that paired six Pacific Northwest artisan cheeses with four different northwest wines and discussed the best cheese and wine combinations. At the very beginning of the seminar, one of the instructors said something that summed up my own personal cheese and wine pairing philosophy: "If you like the cheese, and you like the wine, you'll probably like the pairing."
It all began this past Saturday at the Seattle Cheese Festival, a yearly gathering of cheese geeks at Pike Place Market. At the festival, cheesemakers from all over the Pacific Northwest sample and sell their products and seminars are offered throughout the day. I attended a seminar that paired six Pacific Northwest artisan cheeses with four different northwest wines and discussed the best cheese and wine combinations. At the very beginning of the seminar, one of the instructors said something that summed up my own personal cheese and wine pairing philosophy: "If you like the cheese, and you like the wine, you'll probably like the pairing."
As someone who has at various times made her living suggesting cheese and wine pairings to people, I'm going to let you all in on a little secret: there are very, very few cheese and wine 
combinations that are so gastly they will ruin your night. At a cheese and wine tasting seminar people take a bite of cheese and a little sip of wine and furrow their brow and think very hard about all the flavors in their mouth. In real life, people don't eat that studiously. Since cheese and wine are such natural companions, most any combination you put together will taste pretty darn good. So what I found most enjoyable about the tasting at the Cheese Fest was not the pairing of the wines and cheeses, but the opportunity to taste cheeses that are difficult or completely impossible to find outside of Washington or Oregon. I can't refer you to stores across the country where all of you can taste these cheeses because most artisanal cheesemakers only make enough cheese to sell to a handful of local stores and restaurants. This, I think, is actually a great thing. It's exciting to witness the growth of regional foods and wines that have to be enjoyed in the place they are made. I also love that artisanal cheesemakers are committed to making small batches of their products by hand, rather than opening a huge factory so their cheese can be sold all over the country. If, however, you are ever in Seattle, you must stop at either DeLaurenti Market or Beecher's Cheese in Pike Place Market, which both offer a large selection of northwest cheeses.
The Seattle Cheese Festival is the type of event that inevitably leads to palate exhaustion. Too much wine and cheese can leave a girl parched, which leads to the gin... A friend I was staying with in Seattle served a thirst-quenching, refreshing cocktail that I highly recommend for summer sipping. If it wasn't raining so hard outside, we most definitely would have enjoyed our Basil
Lavender cocktails sitting out on the deck. The base of the cocktail is Dry Soda, a lightly sweetened and subtly flavored soda available in lavender, rhubarb, lemongrass and kumquat. The company that makes Dry Soda is based in Seattle and currently sells their soda in the Pacific NW and California. We muddled minced basil leaves with gin, squeezed in some Meyer lemon, added ice and finished it off with the lavender soda. Any of the sophisticated Dry Soda flavors would pair well with either vodka or gin, and their low sugar content are a welcome change from syrupy-sweet mixers.
combinations that are so gastly they will ruin your night. At a cheese and wine tasting seminar people take a bite of cheese and a little sip of wine and furrow their brow and think very hard about all the flavors in their mouth. In real life, people don't eat that studiously. Since cheese and wine are such natural companions, most any combination you put together will taste pretty darn good. So what I found most enjoyable about the tasting at the Cheese Fest was not the pairing of the wines and cheeses, but the opportunity to taste cheeses that are difficult or completely impossible to find outside of Washington or Oregon. I can't refer you to stores across the country where all of you can taste these cheeses because most artisanal cheesemakers only make enough cheese to sell to a handful of local stores and restaurants. This, I think, is actually a great thing. It's exciting to witness the growth of regional foods and wines that have to be enjoyed in the place they are made. I also love that artisanal cheesemakers are committed to making small batches of their products by hand, rather than opening a huge factory so their cheese can be sold all over the country. If, however, you are ever in Seattle, you must stop at either DeLaurenti Market or Beecher's Cheese in Pike Place Market, which both offer a large selection of northwest cheeses.The Seattle Cheese Festival is the type of event that inevitably leads to palate exhaustion. Too much wine and cheese can leave a girl parched, which leads to the gin... A friend I was staying with in Seattle served a thirst-quenching, refreshing cocktail that I highly recommend for summer sipping. If it wasn't raining so hard outside, we most definitely would have enjoyed our Basil
Lavender cocktails sitting out on the deck. The base of the cocktail is Dry Soda, a lightly sweetened and subtly flavored soda available in lavender, rhubarb, lemongrass and kumquat. The company that makes Dry Soda is based in Seattle and currently sells their soda in the Pacific NW and California. We muddled minced basil leaves with gin, squeezed in some Meyer lemon, added ice and finished it off with the lavender soda. Any of the sophisticated Dry Soda flavors would pair well with either vodka or gin, and their low sugar content are a welcome change from syrupy-sweet mixers.
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