Fun fact one of our favorite customers and brand reps, Regan is a cheesemonger and has broken down the cheesy details and crafted a non-alc cheese pairing menu featuring your favorite varieties of cheese plus an AVEC flavor to match.
1. Brie Fermier avec Yuzu and Lime
Creamy cheeses prove a natural match for anything bright and bubbly. Want to learn how quickly you can demolish an entire wedge of Brie Fermier? Sip AVEC Yuzu and Lime as you do so. A wash of acidity across your tongue sweeps away some of the residual richness and readies you for the next luscious bite. A squidgy cheese with the texture and color of softened grass-fed butter, Brie Fermier delivers a vegetal earthiness reminiscent of darkly-fried Brussel sprouts. Further evocative of nori, it melds seamlessly with East Asian citrus and Southeast Asian aromatics. Shop AVEC Grapefruit and Pomelo ($36) here.
2. Chabichou Du Poitou avec Grapefruit and Pomelo
Goat’s milk makes its presence known in a cheese, particularly in a young, bloomy-rinded soft one. Chabicou’s fluffy, cloud-like paste affords an unmistakable citrusy pop, a faint whiff of musk, and a parting kiss of summer melon. Grapefruits and pomelos strike a similar balance between tart overtones and sugary undertones and the two tastes progress in tandem across your tongue. The gently bitter citrus cuts through the gaminess of the goat’s milk as well as the richness of Chabicou’s gooey creamline that forms like a buttery lava flow just beneath its rind. Shop AVEC Grapefruit and Pomelo ($36) here.
3. Stockinghall Cheddar avec Jalapeño and Blood Orange
Jalapeño and cheddar have become a game-day mainstay pairing for a reason. The two engage in a bit of flavor banter on your tongue. The jalapeño adds another dimension of zip to the tangy cheese whose creaminess, in turn, smoothes the pepper’s spicy edge. Meanwhile, the acidity of the blood orange illuminates the mouth-watering sharpness of the cheddar while the fruit’s sweet undercurrent draws out the cheese’s lesser-sung butterscotch notes. Aged cheddars also boast a profound beefiness that takes to chilis and citrus as well as carne asada does in a salsa-drenched taco. Shop AVEC Jalapeño and Blood Orange ($36) here.
4. Roquefort avec Hibiscus and Pomegranate
With its cinnamon and Persian Lime undertones, AVEC Hibiscus & Pomegranate happily distinguishes itself from red wine. But the visual similarity between the two when poured in a glass and sipped at leisure rightfully draws attention to their shared robust, red fruit flavors. And, just as a light red wine harbors an affinity for sheep’s milk blues, so too does AVEC Hibiscus & Pomegranate provide a sublime pairing for Roquefort. Higher in protein and fat with an inherent sweetness, sheep’s milk produces a uniquely creamy, fruity, and floral blue cheese with strong cherry overtones and a peppery finish. Hibiscus and pomegranate match its fruitiness and spice note-for-note in harmony. Shop AVEC Hibiscus and Pomegranate ($36) here.
5. Nutty Alpine avec Ginger
Check out our custom AVEC Fromage pairing menu. Click here to download a copy.
