GIN CHEESE
We’re lucky enough to be surrounded by some truly talented producers here in the Yarra Valley.
And being locals, we’re mates with a lot of them too, which means a lot of great (and not so great) ideas come from just hanging out and drinking a little gin together.
Cam’s mate Jack Holman from Stone & Crow Cheese Company had been experimenting using the spent gin botanicals to do a cheese rind.
“I came to grab some more one day,” says Jack.
“Cam was distilling and opened up the bottom of the still to empty out all of this liquid.”
That liquid was the stillage – a tea-like substance that is left over from the process and holds onto a lot of botanical flavours.
“Four Pillars Moonshine Cheese was basically born right in that moment!”
Four Pillars Moonshine is a semi-hard cows milk cheese. Jack starts with 400 litres of milk, and during the cheese making process takes out 100 litres of whey and replaces it with 100 litres of the “Four Pillars Gin Water”.
“This flavours and changes the colour of the curd. I end up with four cheeses, around 10kg each. I then mature the cheeses and wash the rinds every week.”
“It takes a minimum of 2 months to age, but can be extended for…well, I can’t tell you how long because the folk at Four Pillars keep eating them!”
We do. And you should help us.
Come in for a Four Pillars Moonshine cheese platter next time you’re in town. It’s positively lovely paired with some gin marmalade and a cheeky cocktail.
