Pairing Rye Whiskey With Cheeses

A few years ago, I did a blog pairing Bourbon with cheese. I thought I would do a similar blog with rye whiskeys. Rosemary and I sat down and tasted three whiskeys, Michter’s US 1 Rye, Old Overholt Bonded Rye and Kentucky Peerless Double Oak Rye.

We paired these whiskeys with seven cheeses. The cheese are: 1) Seaside Rugged Mature English Cheddar, 2) Emmi Le Gruyere, 3) Neal’s Appleby’s Cheshire, Boar’s Head Aged Gouda, 4) Artiskaas Youngsters Smoked Gouda, Mitica Parmigiano Reggiano, and Fromageries Papillon Revelation Roquefort. We purchased these cheeses at Whole Foods, so hopefully you can find them at your local Whole Foods store if you wish to do the pairing on your own.

Michter’s Rye

We started with the Michter’s Rye. This whiskey had a rich vanilla, caramel, citrus, cinnamon and oak flavors.

The first cheese (the Seaside) I found brought out a better mouth-feel with ripe apple and salted caramel. Rosemary thought the cheese’s creaminess and salty flavor intensified the toffee flavor of the whiskey.

The second cheese, for me, brought out butterscotch and cardamom spice. Rosemary found that the cheese lessened the toffee flavor, but brought out a salty, nutty flavor.

The third cheese, I thought, brought out a tart apple and pepper spice flavor. Rosemary thought the whiskey took a backseat to the cheese with an herbal, grassy, earthiness that she did not care for.

The fourth cheese, I thought, brought out a rich vanilla and a floral white pepper note. Rosemary thought the cheese enhanced the toffee notes in the whiskey, but did little else.

The fifth cheese, I thought, enhanced the oak tannins in the whiskey, but did little else other than wash out the other flavors. Rosemary thought the cheese brought out a hickory nuttiness in the whiskey at the cost of the other flavors.

The sixth cheese, I thought, brought out apricots and peach flavors with some nutmeg spice. Rosemary thought that the saltiness of the cheese overpowered the whiskey and did not care for this pairing at all.

The seventh cheese, I thought, enhanced the citrus notes of tangerine and lemon zest with a nice allspice spice note. Rosemary thought the cheese brought a bold, complex, tangy, salty flavor that highlighted the citrus notes of the whiskey.

We both thought the first cheese, the Seaside English Cheddar was our favorite with a very close second going to the Roquefort cheese.

Old Overholt Bonded Rye

We then moved on to the second rye whiskey, Old Overholt Bonded Rye. We found this whiskey has vanilla, cherries, cinnamon and oak flavors.

The first cheese I found brought out a very ripe, almost over-ripe flavor of peaches, apricots and cinnamon. Rosemary thought the cheese added a smooth creaminess to the whiskey with lingering cherry flavor.

The second cheese, for me, enhanced the rye grassiness of the whiskey with cherries and vanilla. Rosemary thought the cheese gave the whiskey a very tannic flavor that she did not care for.

The third cheese, I thought, brought out a fruitiness of apples and cherries with cinnamon spice on the finish. Rosemary did not like this pairing at all and thought the cheese brought out bitter tannins in the whiskey.

The fourth cheese I thought gave the whiskey the flavor of cinnamon apples with vanilla ice cream. Rosemary thought the cheese allowed the vanilla and fruit to shine forth.

The fifth cheese brought out for me the oak wood with caramel and black pepper. Rosemary thought the smoky flavor of the cheese put the flavor of the whiskey in the background.

The sixth cheese made the whiskey very fruity with apples and cherries, with black pepper spice for me. Rosemary thought the salty cheese overwhelmed the rye whiskey.

The seventh cheese, I thought, brought out rich vanilla, apples, pears and cinnamon spice in the whiskey. Rosemary thought that the cheese took the tannins out of the whiskey and left very pleasant flavors of cherries, vanilla and caramel.

We both thought the last cheese, the Roquefort cheese, was the best pairing with the Old Overholt.

Kentucky Peerless Double Oak Rye

Our final rye whiskey was Peerless Double Oak Rye. We find this whiskey has a lot of rye grassiness, caramel, brown sugar, cherries, raspberries, cinnamon, nutmeg and oak wood in the flavor.

The first cheese, I thought, brought out a very rich caramel and chocolate with a bit of nutmeg, but took the fruit out of the flavor in the whiskey. Rosemary thought the cheese took the tannins out of the whiskey leaving nice molasses, coffee and spice flavors.

The second cheese, I thought, enhanced the apple and raspberry flavors and made the caramel step forward as well. Rosemary thought the cheese added a creaminess with a nutty, molasses flavor in the whiskey.

The third cheese brought out butterscotch and pepper spice to me, but at the cost of the other flavors. Rosemary thought the cheese made the whiskey more tannic and peppery.

The fourth cheese I found completely overpowered the whiskey. Rosemary thought the cheese brought out butterscotch in the whiskey.

The smokiness of fifth cheese for me overwhelmed most of the whiskey flavor, but a little vanilla and oak managed to come through. Rosemary thought the smoky cheese pairs with this whiskey as she imagines a cigar would go with the whiskey, being a smoky, smooth and creamy pairing.

The sixth cheese enhanced the rye grassiness and oak wood in the whiskey for me. Rosemary thought the salt of the cheese made the whiskey very dry and tannic.

The seventh cheese brought out flavors of honey, apples and floral white pepper for me. Rosemary thought the bold, complex flavors of the rye whiskey play well with the complex flavors of the cheese, allowing the molasses, coffee, and chocolate flavors in the whiskey to float with the flavors of the cheese.

We disagreed about which was our favorite pairing with the Peerless. I liked the fruitiness of the second cheese (Le Gruyere) the best, but for me the Roquefort was a close second. Rosemary liked the Roquefort the best with the Seaside Cheddar being a close second.

I hope you find this tasting useful and fun. Try it on your own and let me know which cheese you like best with the whiskeys.