Gin pairing: the art of combining food and gin.

But what is gin? A distillate of barley, wheat, juniper and other botanicals depending on the recipe and taste of the producer. Born as a medicine in the Netherlands, then it spread throughout the world becoming the star of one of the most popular cocktails: gin and tonic.

Matching with gin is a practice already widespread abroad but in recent years it is taking hold also in Italy. Andrea and Daniela, brothers and owners of Nidaba, a gastropub in Montebelluna (Treviso area), know it very well. In the last months many customers have been asking them to combine their dishes with one of the gins of their huge selection. A little bit of courage and here it is: the idea of drinking gin and tonic only after dinner is wiped out.

No limits on taste: this is the starting mood that injects the right adrenaline to experiment. And then we take on with cheeses.

In addition to Daniela and Andrea also Ilaria (the Chef) and Francesco join us. The first step is tasting the cheese on its own, to understand all the nuances of taste. Here, surely, the idea of the aromas to match will start to arise, whether in contrast or in concordance. We then move on thinking about the dish, because as Daniela says “when you have a good cheese it is a pity to serve it always alone!”

Working together, with some trials we reach the right balance between dish and gin and tonic. That’s art!

Andrea reveals to us just one tip: for his homemade gins he always starts from a London Dry, a type of gin with few botanicals that can be perfectly customized with different herbs or aromas. We trust the experience of Andrea, who speaks to us from behind the bar, where he keeps all his gins, flavored personally with the herbs of his botanical garden. So let’s begin the tasting. 

We start with the Gruyere AOC Alpage (by Gourmino) in breadcrumbs and fried with mint apple and kumquat mustard combined with a gin with lemon and rosemary to degrease and refresh the mouth.

Second trial: Sottocenere al Tartufo (by Latteria Moro Sergio) becomes a base for a fried egg yolk with a pinch of asparagus and fried lotus root. Thinking of the scent of ash, the perfect match is soon made with a cedar gin enriched with laurel.

The artichoke with fresh Pecorino of Pienza (by Cugusi), served on a cream of topinambur and with topinambur chips, perfectly marries with a mint and chili gin and tonic. The artichoke pairs divinely with pecorino but it is always very difficult to combine. Among all the trials, mint really represented a successful marriage.

The colors are more intense and warmer with the goat blue cheese with red fruits, Ol Sciur (by Lavialattea), combined with a beef tartare with raspberry gel. Definitely fruity flavors that are enhanced with a gin made with rose buds and enriched with and infusion of hibiscus.

We continue with a pastrami made with Picanha of Fassona, flakes of Pecorino Ginepro (by Paolini & Tamburini) and purple cabbage mousse on a toasted bread. Here the choice of gin was more complex. All gins are made with juniper, an aroma that can be also found in this cheese: too easy! So Andrea chose an aromatisation that completely overwhelmed the London Dry: a blend of gin with fennel and licorice. It seemed risky, but it worked! The flavor of the pastrami is intense but the power of the fennel seeds manages to keep a perfect balance.

And at the end comes the dessert, a cheesecake with smoked Robiola di capra (by Latteria Perenzin), orange, carrots and macis ice cream. Andrea told us that when he tasted the dish the orange immediately came to mind as a guiding thread of the combination, therefore: orange gin with ginger.

Next gin frontier? Vegetables! But this would be another story!

Giulia Bassetto
Marketing Manager