The Booziest Washed Rind Cheeses

Who doesn’t love a bit of booze? Nothing beats cracking open a bottle of alcohol, and cheese is a long-standing partner in this tradition. Red wine can polish the palate during a cheese tasting session, ready to fully taste the next one without the last one lingering underneath. Cheese and wine are a universal social ritual, something to bring people together over conversation. And like cheesemaking, alcohols of all varieties have rich artisan communities here in the UK that thrive on the support of those who want an alternative to the mass-market supermarket produce.

However, the relationship between alcohol and cheese goes deeper than the cheeseboard. There is a cohort of cheesemakers who have paired cheese and alcohol more intimately, washing the cheese in a booze of their choosing throughout the maturation period. This forms a large section of the current class of washed rind cheeses, and in this blog, we take a look at why booze-soaked washed rind cheese is so effective, what alcohols work best and take a look at some of the booziest washed rind cheese being made in Britain today.

As detailed in our washed rind cheese blog, washing a cheese regularly throughout the maturation process invites the growth of particular bacteria, including Brevibacterium linens, which typically produce a saturated golden or ruby-red colour as well as a pungent smell.

The first washed rind cheeses were soaked in alcohol as a form of preservation, so it’s been a long-standing tradition. Many today use brine, but alcohol has a knack for imbuing a cheese with added complexity in flavour, plus an added tint of colour which can vary depending on the alcohol used. Cider lightens the cheese, while a red wine or beer darkens it, for example.

You may be wondering: Do these washed rind cheeses get you drunk? Perhaps if you ate a lot of it - we’ve never gotten that far!

The magic of washed rind cheeses is the transformation through bold decisions, and there’s no shortage of alcoholic beverages that can soak a cheese.

Beer is a natural starting point: malty ales are common choices, especially in traditional farmhouse cheesemaking. Both white and red wine play well, with the former tending to lift the brightness and acidity, while the latter adds more of a backbone. There’s brandy, which I find offers a very pungent, European character. Cider, meanwhile, is distinctly British. The apple aroma, crisp and barnyardy, pairs so naturally with the creamy interior of a good washed rind.

Other alcohols which are used include port, even mead… there’s theoretically no limit to what alcohols can wash a cheese, so long as it tastes great at the end. Oftentimes, using alcohols which have a closer connection to the cheese - for instance, coming from the same farm or town - makes them taste that much more delicious.

If you have ever tasted Reblochon - a smooth, supple and oh-so-nutty washed-rind cheese from France - then you’ll be reminded of it with a bite of Yarlington. This Cotswolds-born variety is washed in the finest British cider made by Tom Oliver, which has itself matured in Speyside whisky oak barrels for 18 months. The result is an equally fruity, smoky and spicy vigour that settles down into a gentle, bittersweet finish. As the cheese ages, the cider wash comes to the fore, supplying notes of green apple skins. After all, this cheese is named after the very apple whose cider helped to make it.

Doused in a plentiful helping of Temperley Somerset Cider brandy, Eve is a soft goats’ cheese that develops a dichotomy of lemon and nut notes. Eve’s standout visual quality is its vine leaf rind, and the brandy is what makes the vine leaves flexible enough to wrap - an initial practical help which gives way to a gorgeous second purpose.

Isle of Mull is not a washed rind cheese, but it is made and matured in an old whiskey distillery, and the terroir impacts the cheese significantly. If not for its location, its crumbly texture wouldn’t be paired with such a hearty flavour, losing those smoky undertones of ale and whiskey. Despite not directly touching any alcohol, it’s fair to say that alcohol is just as integral to this gleaming gold cheddar.

What could be more fitting than washing these boozy cheeses with a glass of drink? Yarlington pairs wonderfully with a crisp cider or a fruity white wine to complement its milky richness, such as a Chenin Blanc. For Eve, an English sparkling wine is a fitting counterpoint to the lemon tones in the goats’ cheese, while Isle of Mull is obviously best suited before a dram of whiskey, but for something less likely to knock you off your seat, a hearty ale or apple cider.