When reading about the Ancient Greeks, there’s often descriptions of drinking wine with grated cheese. In Homer’s An Iliad, there’s a passage about a drink called Kykeon that describes a woman mixing “a mess with Pramnian wine; she grated goat’s milk cheese into it with a bronze grater, threw in a handful of white barley-meal, and having thus prepared the mess she bade them drink it.”
It may seem unusual to our modern sensibilities to have wine with grated cheese but bartenders across the world are experimenting with cheese and cocktails. My first and only experience was the Parmigiano Sour, which is basically a Pisco sour but with Parmesan cheese. I had the opportunity to talk to a cheesemonger and bartender about the possibilities of making cocktails with cheese.
Cheese in Cocktails
Most people are familiar with cheese pairing with cocktails but not cheese within the drink, aside from an over-the-top Bloody Mary. And frankly, Bloody Mary’s are not known for the quality of the cheese. But Julia Momosé, partner and creative director of Kumako and author of The Way of Cocktail, sees possibility in the combination: “We’re already using milk and cream in cocktails, and we are also using acid in cocktails. Cheese is basically dairy and acid altogether. So I think it makes a lot of sense.”
Emilia D’Albero, Chief Department Manager and Chief Buyer for The Greene Grape who took second at the Cheesemonger International NYC 2021, sees the possibility of cheese in cocktails, citing the versatility of the food.
But not everyone is enthusiastic about using cheese in cocktails. Freddie Sarkis, Chief Liquor Officer at Liquor Lab said: “A lot of people are looking for something new, and they want to push the envelope because they’re bored. But the question is, ultimately, are there a million ingredients to put into cocktails before cheese? Yes,” Sarkis said.
A big part of the problem is the chemistry; how do you mix cheese into a drink when it won’t dissolve? He offers the comparison with strawberries: “If you think about making a strawberry syrup, that’s easy. You can juice a strawberry, you could simply simmer it in syrup to infuse its flavor. You can’t really do that with cheese.” One could potentially make a cheese sauce syrup, but that sounds repulsive, he noted, for putting it into a mixed drink.
There are ways of making it work, Sarkis noted, having made a few drinks with cheese. However, using cheese can be very expensive, whether it’s the equipment or the ingredients themselves, which can make it out of reach for the at-home bartender.
Creamy Cheese Cocktails
All three experts noted a few ways of using cheese in cocktails. The first is using the cheese as an accompaniment or replacement for dairy or eggs. For instance, Sarkis recalled making a cocktail for Chef David Rodriquez at De La Costa, where he made bleu cheese into a spumante foam. He combined the foam with the egg white and layered it onto the top of the Pisco sour, instead of mixing it in. That worked for Sarkis, but he noted that he was working under the guidance of a well-known chef.
Mascarpone drink photo credit Huge Galdones Photography
Another example that Momosé cited was the use of mascarpone as a sort of replacement for egg white. There was a dollop of mascarpone, angostura bitters, fresh lemon juice, vanilla, Creme de Noyeaux, Kirsh, Brandy, and nutmeg as a garnish. She described it as “super frothy, creamy, rich and airy and had the qualities of an egg-white cocktail or an egg white and cream cocktail, but it was just cheese.”
Then there are the cocktails in between. In her research, D’Albero found that New York City restaurant Ai Fiori made a “Beet Salad” cocktail that included whipped goat cheese, beet salad, and Bacardi Rum.
Drier Cheese and Cheese Infusion Cocktails
There are also possibilities with non-creamy cheeses like parmesan and pecorino. Drier cheese like parmesan or pecorino can be grated either onto the top of a drink or used on the rim. As noted before, the Parmigiano Sour had the cheese grated on top, akin to nutmeg in eggnog or other drinks. Sarkis noted the use of pecorino and added it to the rim like salt in a Margarita. Then again, that’s not really using the cheese in the drink but as an accompaniment.
There’s also infusing the alcohol with cheese or cheese rinds. Sarkis noted that when he worked at the award-winning Broken Shaker, they made Garrett’s Old Fashioned, a twist on the famous Chicago popcorn place Garrett’s Popcorn. He made clarified popcorn syrup, salt, and butter bitters.
Then he tried about 10 different cheeses before finding parmesan and aged cheddar. He explained, he would “steep those in grain alcohol for three days and then strained off the grain alcohol and then use that as a mist on top of the drink. So you’re combining the popcorn with salted butter and then the cheese came from the aromatic component of the spray.” Along with an Old Forester whiskey, the drink had caramel and cheesy quality to it, just like Garrett’s signature popcorn.
Cheers Mr. Johnson by Hebert Moreira
Hebert Moreira, Bar Manager at New York Italian restaurant Rezdora, explained that he previously had experiences with cheese infusions with his mentor Sean Johnson at Gabriel Kreuther. At Rezdora, he decided to make a Parmesan-infused gin cocktail called “Cheers Mr. Johnson”, after his mentor and as an homage drink, he had made previously. He got the idea for the drink because the restaurant had a surplus of Parmesan rinds (often used for stock). He used Gin from Parma, Italy, also the home region to the famous cheese as well as Vermouth infused with Basil.
Momosé mentioned combining Parmesan and Absinthe with a touch of soy sauce for a Sazerac. “I really love soy sauce and really savory, salty cheeses together,” she said, “the cheese’s a little bit of a brighter note, the soy sauce a little bit of a deeper note, but somehow in that umami scale, they’re just going hand in hand.” She’d add a rinse of that to her Sazerac with some cognac.
Recently, D’Albero came across a parmesan-based drink at the New York City-based restaurant Rezdora. The “Cheers Mr. Johnson” contains “gin di Parmigiano, vodka, and basil Cocchi americano.” However, she had yet to try it as of our interview but plans on trying it next time she can.
Proceed with Caution
While the experts noted some creative uses of cheese in cocktails, there are definitely some drawbacks to the use of the ingredient. As noted above, Sarkis explained that these drinks tended to require special equipment to make the foam, etc., and expertise to make, which might not make it easy for any home bartender to make or even afford.
Plus, there’s the cost of the cheese itself. Bartenders typically like to use the best ingredients (lime juice v. fresh squeezed lime) and cheese. D’Albero said, “I feel like some of these cocktail bars are using definitely more expensive cheese. I would be kind of concerned about how well the cocktail would do on the menu and whether or not it would make it worth it to buy that kind of cheese.” And the concept of a cheese cocktail may be so out there for many customers that it may not be feasible for restaurants to even serve it.
There’s also the concern about storage. Cheese spoils more easily than other cocktail ingredients so finding refrigeration is important. Momosé cautions that infusions with cheese should be treated like cheese and stored as such, instead of letting it sit out.
There’s also the freshness issue of the cheese. D’Albero pointed out, “I would be more concerned about how often they prepare these cheese-related ingredients and how fresh they are. Are they grating the parmesan fresh every day because you know as a cheese person with a lot of cheese knowledge, I don’t want to eat you know, week old grated Parmesan.”
Plus, Momosé pointed out you want to be concerned about the cheese curdling the drink. As anyone who has had the misfortune of drinking a Cement Mixer can know, curdled alcohol is no fun.
Finally, it’s notable that all three experts noted that the use of cheese in cocktails is not a common occurrence right now. The challenges above might make it unlikely to be the new thing in cocktails. But next time you’re at a top restaurant and you see a cocktail with cheese, you might want to try it.