Jerk-spiced cheese paired with mango soda isn’t what most people picture when they think of a cheese pairing. But for Alisha Norris Jones, a Chicago-based cheesemonger and founder of Immortal Milk, the underground cheese board concept that hosts classes, events and pop-ups, it all makes perfect sense.
The sweet, smoky spice of Beecher’s Jerk Spice cheese transports Jones back to the vibrant Indian-Jamaican community she grew up around in Boston — the taste of jerk-spiced beef patties and mango candies from the corner store. For Jones, the obvious pairing here isn’t wine, but mango soda, or even a mango-infused tepache, a lightly fermented drink made from pineapples, that echoes those same flavors but with an added touch of funk.
It’s a combination that wouldn’t appear in any cheese pairing guide. But for Jones, that’s exactly the point.
Despite the explosive growth of cheese culture in America over the last two generations, most of us fall back on predictable templates of cheese and wine. A mild brie or cheddar, and maybe a politely stinky blue, along with a bottle of red wine to carry it through. They’re combinations that seem safe and dependable, but not wholly reflective of who we are or the flavors we crave.
“It’s as if you’re constantly looking at Martha Stewart, who has her own background and vibe,” says Jones. What if, instead of focusing on what the ideal board would be, you focused instead on creating a board that reflects who you are and what you’re into, she asks.
Wine is a classic pairing with cheese, but “most people are choosing the wrong wines to pair with their cheeses anyway,” says Michael Roper, owner of Hopleaf, the Andersonville bar known for its expansive beer list and hearty cheese boards stacked with unique, often locally sourced cheeses.
Big, tannic cabernets and heady merlots — the bottles people often instinctively reach for — tend to overwhelm cheese, explains Roper. Tannins can clash with milk proteins, creating bitter, metallic sensations, while alcohol and extraction flatten more delicate flavors.
If you’re pairing wine with cheese, it’s best to focus on bright, high-acid whites, he advises. But often, the more interesting move is to look beyond wine altogether.
“Beer is often overlooked with cheese, but in many cases it’s a more natural match,” Roper says. The logic is simple. Just think about what’s already on your cheese board — all the bread, crackers and grains, he explains. “Beer is essentially liquid bread. It’s obvious how well cheese and beer align.”
A bright, hoppy Pilsner is a universal pairing with almost any cheese, Roper explains, but particularly good at highlighting the sweetness in a younger, softer cheese. Darker beers — a porter, stout or even a Belgian dubbel — have the concentration to meet saltier, more firmly textured aged cheeses. With intensely stinky cheeses like gorgonzola, Roper might reach for a sweeter, fruit-driven Belgian kriek lambic, made with sour cherries, or framboise, made from raspberries.
Ciders too, are another natural pairing with cheese, Roper says. Dry, lightly carbonated styles, more similar to those from Normandy or Brittany than the sweeter versions common in the U.S., lend acidity and subtle tannins that refresh the palate while echoing the fruit often served alongside cheese.
Japanese sake, meanwhile, offers an entirely different kind of revelation. Konbini and Kanpai, the sake bar and Japanese convenience store with locations in Lakeview and Wrigleyville, has become an industry watering hole for chefs, beverage professionals and cheesemongers eager to explore the category with co-owner Jun-Jun Vichaikul, says Jones.
“There’s an entirely different kind of synergy with sake and cheese,” says Vichaikul, who hosts special cheese and sake tasting events and offers a cheese-inspired sake flight he calls Nihonshu Fromage.
Compared with wine, sake contains higher levels of amino acids — the building blocks of umami — which bond with the savoriness in cheese, he explains. Where wine often relies on tartaric acid for contrast, cleansing the palate of richness and funk, sake’s softer lactic acidity “acts more like hug,” Vichaikul describes.
What unites all these approaches is willingness to move beyond formulaic pairings into experiences that are both intuitive and adventurous. Jones describes a cheese board as a sensory experience shaped by your own “cultural terroir,” snippets of your own life, memories and experiences that translate into deeply personal, inspired pairings. Jones begins the creative process of building a cheese board with a mind map and mood board. But it doesn’t have to be that complex, she says.
Still thinking about a recent trip to Spain? Build a board around Iberian cheeses, charcuterie and wines, she suggests. Love goat cheese? Make an all-goat spread, exploring different styles and textures, with garnishes that evoke the pasture, says Jones.
Yes, cheese can be overwhelming, she concedes. But at its core, it should be fun. After all, a cheese board isn’t just about the cheese, Jones reminds us. “It’s an opportunity to bring everyone to the table. And if you’re not laughing and engaging with both the food and the people you’re with, it’s all a bit silly.”
Quick tips on building a cheese board
Just as you would a bartender or your manicurist, start a conversation with the person behind the cheese counter, Jones says. They’ve tasted almost everything and they want to talk about their craft.
Start with three to five cheeses, varying milk types and textures, Jones says. Include one wildcard — something outside your comfort zone to experiment and cultivate your palate.
If choosing wines, focus on bright, higher-acid white wines that cut through the mouth-coating fattiness of cheese. Jones loves dessert wines like the French Sauternes, or sweeter styles of Riesling to highlight the sweetness in cheeses. For red wine diehards, rosé is a good midpoint, but you can experiment too with youthful, lighter-bodied reds that are low in tannins, think pinot noir, gamay, poulsard or trousseau.
A few cheese pairings beyond wine to start with
Beecher’s Handmade Jerk Spiced Cheese and Thomas Henry Mystic Mango Soda or De La Calle Mango Chili Tepache: Jones has built entire cheese boards based around this pairing, rooted in what she describes as “my personal story as a Black girl from Boston.”
Capriole Wabash Cannonball and Volition Mo Cha: Matcha, or the Chinese mo cha, can mimic sauvignon blanc’s grassy, citrus flavors, teasing out notes of cut grass and the delicate astringency in a Wabash Cannonball, an Indiana goat cheese rolled in a coating of vegetable ash. Jones describes the combination as “a grassy, vanilla-forward goat marshmallow in your mouth.”
Ciresa Gorgonzola Cremificato and Yamahai-style Sake (Tamagawa Red Label Yamahai or Kanbara Ancient Treasure Koshu): With their umami richness and sweetly earthen, nutty complexities, Vichaikul recommends savory styles of yamahai sake like Tamagawa’s Red Label from Kyoto, or koshu, an aged sake, like Kanbara’s Ancient Treasure from Niigata. Both amplify the sweetness and blue bite of this pudding-like, salty cheese in the way that Sherry or Madeira might, he suggests.
Prairie Fruit Farm & Creamery Chèvre Frais and wheat beer: A fruity, subtly spiced wheat beer — like an Allagash White or a German hefeweizen — is an ideal pairing for a young goat’s cheese, says Roper. Prairie Fruit Farm’s chèvre frais is a favorite among the local cheeses Roper sources from Michigan.
Carr Valley 5-Year Aged Cheddar and dark ales: A darker porter or stout has the concentration to match the salt and firm texture of this aged Wisconsin cheddar, says Roper.
Gorgonzola and Belgian lambic: Stinky, powerful blue cheeses pair well with beers that bring a touch of sweetness — tart, fruit-driven lambics like kriek or framboise.
Anna Lee Iijima is a freelance writer.
