Taking their award-winning cheese, they’ve collaborated with drinks expert and TV presenter Aidy Smith and Mozart, makers of the indulgent Strawberry White Chocolate Cream Liqueur, to create the Strawberry Velvet, a rich and creamy cocktail made with Stilton-infused rum.
Using a super easy ‘fat-wash’ method (merging spirits and blue cheese together) the creaminess and slight saltiness of the 1912 Stilton comes across perfectly in an aged rum, creating a salted caramel popcorn flavour. Add some indulgent Mozart White Chocolate Strawberry Liqueur with a dash of chocolate bitters and you have the perfect Easter tipple that’s tapping into the booming trend for savoury drinks with a luxury twist.
With multi-sensory mixology one of 2025’s biggest food and drink trends, they’ve also given the traditional Bloody Mary a blue cheese makeover. The Hot & Loaded Bloody Mary is packed full of spicy notes - mix vodka, tomato juice, lemon juice, Tabasco sauce, Worcester sauce, smoked paprika, and top with chilli flakes and pepper. Using long kebab skewers treat the drink to a selection of Stilton-stuffed pitted olives and mild chillies, prawns, cherry tomatoes and cocktail gherkins.
Aidy has also created a simple 1912 Stilton sushi garnish: take a potato peeler, cut long strips of cucumber and blot with a piece of kitchen towel. Add a thin layer of blue cheese and team with a raw vegetable such as a piece of mangetout or an asparagus tip. Roll and secure with a cocktail stick.
Or for a quick and easy Easter snack hack, create your own Easter mini cheese 'eggs' by teaming large, pitted olives with chunks of 1912 fashioned into small bird’s eggs to create a sophisticated Easter table setting.
According to the Waitrose Food & Drink Report, umami is the defining flavour of 2024–25, and savoury cocktails are leading the charge. Diageo’s Bar Academy has reported a boom in bartenders using ingredients like miso, seaweed and cheese to create complex drinks, while Bacardi’s Cocktail Trends Report reveals a 20% jump in interest for savoury flavour profiles. With TikTok ablaze with fat-washing demos and Parmesan Martinis, blue cheese cocktails are the next big thing.
“Flavour is all about storytelling,” says Aidy. “When you can take something nostalgic and familiar, like Stilton, and reimagine it in a cocktail, you create something memorable. Fat-washing with cheese might sound out there, but the umami flavour it creates is sensational.”
Fancy trying your hand at some flavour alchemy? Visit Aidy's Instagram to see the Strawberry Velvet recipe being made and the ingredients and equipment you'll need instagram.com/p/DIf90D3Nxsj
