Move over, hollow chocolate bunnies. This Easter, the hottest trend doesn’t come wrapped in foil—it comes stirred, shaken, and rimmed in crushed pistachio and chocolate. Welcome to the era of savoury sophistication, where blue cheese meets booze and cocktails get seriously creamy.
Enter: the Strawberry Velvet—a cocktail as bold as it is beautiful, dreamt up by our very own Three Drinker and all-around drinks whisperer, Aidy Smith. Made with 1912 Stilton (yes, really) and Mozart’s Strawberry White Chocolate Cream Liqueur, this is Easter 2.0—boozier, creamier, and delightfully grown-up.
The Savoury Cocktail Boom
Thanks to the likes of TikTok and trend-hungry mixologists, savoury cocktails are having a moment. Waitrose’s 2025 Food & Drink Report calls it “multisensory mixology”; Diageo, Bacardi and The Spirits Business all agree umami is officially in. And where there’s umami, there’s cheese.
“Blue cheese is undergoing a full renaissance,” says Aidy. “And when fat-washed into spirits, it unlocks this rich, velvety, umami depth that’s just mind-blowing. Combine that with something sweet like Mozart’s Strawberry Liqueur, and you’ve got a cocktail that’s a real experience—not just a drink.”
First Things First: How to Fat-Wash with Stilton
Here’s how to give your rum a cheesy twist (in the best way possible).
You’ll Need:
750ml of quality rum
1 block of 1912 Stilton (available at Tesco, Ocado, Morrisons)
1 block of unsalted butter
A pan, a sieve, and a large sealed container
Method:
Melt your butter gently in a pan, crumble in the Stilton and stir until melted together. Take off the heat and let it cool slightly. Pour the buttery Stilton mix into your container with the rum. Let it sit at room temperature for 8 hours. Freeze for 24 hours (yes, really). Strain through a fine mesh sieve. Boom—fat-washed rum, ready for action.
The Strawberry Velvet Cocktail
Rim Ingredients:
Crushed pistachios
Crushed dark chocolate
Mozart Chocolate Liqueur (for sticking power)
Cocktail Ingredients:
100ml Mozart Strawberry White Chocolate Cream Liqueur
50ml 1912 Stilton fat-washed rum
2 dashes of chocolate bitters
Thin slice of strawberry (for garnish)
How to Make It:
Dip the rim of a coupe glass into some Mozart Chocolate Liqueur, then roll it in a mix of crushed pistachio and chocolate. Let it set.
In a cocktail shaker, combine the Mozart Strawberry, your glorious Stilton fat-washed rum, and chocolate bitters. Add ice and shake until chilled.
Fine strain into your pre-rimmed glass.
Garnish with a fresh strawberry slice. Sip. Swoon. Repeat.
Why It Works
This cocktail is a full-on flavour bomb: sweet, savoury, creamy, and utterly indulgent. It’s the antidote to sugar fatigue, the Easter gift your grown-up self actually wants, and the perfect excuse to show off your cocktail skills.
So whether you’re hosting brunch, skipping the egg hunt, or just looking to sip on something bold and boujee—this is your moment. Cheers to cheese, cheers to cocktails, and cheers to celebrating the weird, wonderful flavours of the season.
Mozart Chocolate Liqueurs: Decadence, Distilled
Crafted in the heart of Salzburg—the birthplace of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart—Mozart Chocolate Liqueurs are as symphonic as their namesake. This isn’t your average creamy concoction; this is Austrian alchemy at its finest. For over 60 years, Mozart has harmonised the artistry of distilling with the complexity of fine chocolate-making, blending Belgian cocoa, Madagascan vanilla, and fresh cream to create what can only be described as dessert in a glass. But don’t let the sweet side fool you—there’s structure, balance and an elegant mouthfeel that sets it apart from anything else on the back bar.
The Strawberry White Chocolate Cream Liqueur is a particular showstopper: luscious, fruity and playfully indulgent with that signature white chocolate silkiness. It’s a love letter to strawberries and cream, but done with finesse. What makes it such a stellar ingredient in the Strawberry Velvet is its ability to dance between rich and refreshing. When paired with the umami hit of the Stilton fat-washed rum, the Mozart provides a creamy counterpoint that elevates, balances, and rounds out every sip. It softens the funk, amplifies the sweetness, and keeps the texture gloriously velvety—just as the name promises.
1912 Stilton: A British Icon with a Bold Streak
If there were ever a cheese worthy of the spotlight in a cocktail, it’s 1912 Stilton. Named after the year Long Clawson Dairy was founded, this blue cheese is a proper British institution—PDO-protected, hand-ladled and made with milk from local Leicestershire farms. It’s rich, robust and unapologetically bold, delivering that glorious Stilton tang alongside an earthy, creamy depth that lingers like a fine whisky. There’s nothing shy about it—and that’s precisely why it works so well in the glass.
Fat-washing rum with 1912 Stilton might sound like culinary mischief, but it’s a stroke of genius. The high fat content of the cheese binds beautifully with the spirit, mellowing harsh edges and infusing it with a savoury, almost truffle-like richness. It transforms ordinary rum into something layered, luxe and utterly unexpected. In the Strawberry Velvet, this umami-packed base is the foundation—cutting through the sweetness of the Mozart liqueur, grounding the cocktail with serious sophistication, and delivering a round, buttery mouthfeel that’s impossible to fake. Think of it as the cocktail world’s answer to strawberries and blue cheese—a daring duo that somehow just… works.
