Flight of the Cocktails

Last weekend my friend Dave hosted a terrific cocktail party at his home. He planned the evening so that we were all set to enjoy a new cocktail each hour, more-or-less on the hour.

My contribution, of course, was bringing the cheese. Unfortunately I didn't have enough of the homegrown variety ready to go, but a quick stop at Trader Joe's served me well. (Bonus: it's fun shopping at TJ's while decked out in your finest linens, amongst the riff-raff in their sweaty workout clothes!).

I took a few chances on the pairings. Three worked beautifully; the other two were, umm, rather lackluster. Here's the deets:

Seven o’clock Homemade strawberry and pineapple infused vodka spritzers Paired with Iberico. Not such a great match, sadly. The aftertaste from the cheese somehow ended up a bit "plastic-ey." Not sure what was going on there, but it was less than stellar. Dang.

Eight o’clock Blood orange martinis with a sugared rim Paired with Cotswold Cheddar, a creamy cheddar with chives and onions. I thought this was the biggest gamble, and boy did it pay off. Absolutely incredible! The sweet drink was balanced by the sharpness of the chive and onion -- each magically enhanced the other's flavor. Weak in the knees!

Nine o’clock Absolut mandarin and soda Paired with White Stilton with Apricots. The Stilton was good, but it had sooooo many apricots! A bit of a fruit overload, I'm afraid.

Ten o’clock Dirty Dave’s filthy dirty martini This was a surprisingly tough call. I needed something that would stand up to the olive brine, which I was sure Dave would be applying liberally. I ended up selecting Mushroom Brie. I'm a big fan of mushroom & olive pizza, so I figured it just might work. The distinct, piquant flavor of the Brie really held its own against the martini, while the mushrooms gave it a unique flavor that really helped bring it all together.

Eleven o’clock Chocolate martinis This one was easy. Plain Goat's Milk Chevre. Creamy, simple, elegant: "Chocolate Milkshake." Take that, DQ!