The International Olive Council lists 139 types of olives in its “World Catalogue of Olive Varieties,” but chances are that even the most committed olive enthusiasts will encounter only a handful of them. (Have you ever come across an Egyptian Toffahi or Albanian Kalinjo olive? I didn’t think so.) More likely, the olives we eat will simply be green, black, or stuffed, with not much focus on country or variety. But Americans certainly do love their olives—so much, in fact, that the U.S. ranks fourth in the world in olive consumption, after Egypt, Algeria, and Turkey. The standard martini olive is generally one of three types: Castelvetrano, Queen, or Manzanilla.
The first is Italy’s most popular snacking olive, with buttery flesh and relatively mild flavor. The latter two are similar olives from Spain, slightly more full-bodied with lightly smoky, almondy characters.
As their compatibility with ice cold gin might suggest, lighter-bodied whiskies are your best choice for each of this trio, especially the Castelvetrano. Select something with a sweet, vanilla-ish body and just a touch of fruitiness, like McConnell’s 5 year old Irish whiskey. For the bolder Manzanilla and Queen olives, a scotch single malt with a light smokiness and a bit of a maritime char-acter is a tremendous match.
The workhorse of the black olive world is Greece’s Kalamata, rich, mild to moderately smoky, and with a fruitiness that leans toward date and prune notes. One of the few olives with the body to stand beside bolder whiskies, they pair beautifully with medium-bodied bourbons that combine equal parts sweet grain, floral vanilla, and stone fruit. Not altogether surprisingly, Kalamatas also partner wonderfully with smoky whiskies, so long as some sweetness is also present, as in the Irish Connemara Peated single malt.
The tiny powerhouse known as the Niçoise olive, named for the French city of Nice but actually of the Cailletier variety, has a profound, complex flavor with a light bitterness and hints of licorice. It’s a combination that begs for a contrasting rather than complementary partnership, something sweet and fruity rather than smoky, earthy, or overly spicy. An unpeated scotch or Japanese single malt performs most ably, but a medium-weight bourbon with a bit of spice and full fruit is the ideal choice.
Stuffed olives are typically large in size and mild in flavor, often of the buttery Italian Cerignola variety—which on their own pair delightfully with lighter Canadian and Japanese whiskies, like Crown Royal or Toki— and as such principally take on the flavor of their stuffing, with the olive contributing a touch of grassiness. For goat cheese-stuffed olives, consider an Irish blend with a good amount of pot still spice in it, such as Black Bush, whereas a blue cheese-stuffed olive will welcome a peaty Islay malt. For the spicy mixture Italians call ‘La Bomba,’ try an assertively fruit-forward American single malt, like Yellowstone, perhaps with a cube of ice.
Try These Whisky and Olive Pairings
Manzanilla Olives with Jura 10 year old scotch single malt
The faint smokiness of the olive is amped up nicely by that of the whisky, while the brine-cured olive’s salinity exaggerates the whisky’s maritime character.
Kalamata Olives with Rabbit Hole Cavehill bourbon
The light smoke and fruit of the olives accentuate the malt character of the bourbon, while the whis-key’s honey notes draw forward the sweet earthiness of the olive.
Niçoise Olives with Gold Bar Black Double Cask bourbon
The unusual blend of 80% corn and 20% rye coupled with wine barrel finishing gives this bourbon a balance of fruit and spice that plays up the complexities of the olives.
