3 ways to drink our new Lake House Spiced Rum

Our newest spirit is a celebration of all things landlocked — namely lakes and the people who frequent them.

Introducing: Lake House Spiced Rum.

Lake House Spiced Rum debuts this weekend at the distillery with bottle sales beginning at noon Friday, plus special rum cocktails and even free distillery tours on Saturday, as long as you RSVP.

Lake House Spiced Rum is made in small batches from natural, whole botanical ingredients like orange peel, vanilla, cinnamon, black pepper and cardamom — no flavoring extracts, no coloring.

It hits the spot when you're grilling out. It's part of the perfect boat cocktail for a Saturday on the lake. It's what you bring to your neighbor's pool party. It's your reward after cutting the grass. It's meant for nights spent around a campfire.

Here's how we'd drink it if we were you:

1. RUM AND COKE. 

Lake House Spiced Rum will make you fall in love with rum and Cokes all over again. Whether it's your go-to drink, or it's one you haven't had since college, our rum has a way of making this simple mixed drink something to savor. 

"The cardamom we use in our spiced rum really comes through," says our distiller Justin Hughey. "Some rums don't push through Coke. But ours does."

Hey, we are the first to admit that we love fancy cocktails with six ingredients that are made from scratch and fresh squeezed and what not ... but we cannot deny the bliss of a straightforward, no-recipe mixed drink like a rum and Coke. 

2. SERIOUS COCKTAILS.

Remember two seconds ago when we said we love fancy cocktails? It's a good thing we did not throw fancy cocktails under the bus just to make a point about rum and Cokes, because Lake House Spiced Rum is right at home in serious cocktails, too.

At the distillery this weekend, we'll be mixing two special rum cocktails. One will have our spiced rum, our Songbird Craft Coffee Liqueur, honey syrup and lemon. And the other will have our spiced rum with ginger syrup, lime and bitters. Don't choose. Try both. And then ask our bartender for the recipes so you can recreate them at home.

(Also, try Lake House Spiced Rum in an Old Fashioned. You're welcome.)

3. TIKI DRINKS.

Lake House Spiced Rum likes a trip to the tropics just like any other booze. Try it in classic tiki cocktails like Pieces of Eight or a Daiquiri. You bet we'll be using it on Tiki Tuesdays around the distillery.

Behind the scenes: 3 cool things happening at the distillery

A ton of great stuff has been happening at the distillery lately, and we wanted to give a peek at what's going on behind our production doors. You can always take a tour of our distillery to see it all in person, you know. But, until then...

We bottled a barrel of custom whiskey for Big Red Liquors, the largest liquor store chain in Indiana. You might remember us telling you that last summer, Big Red and 40 of its top whiskey-loving customers came to the distillery to make a whiskey from scratch — what a cool group project! Everyone who was there signed the barrel. 

Big Red gave us the thumbs up to bottle the barrel, and now its limited-edition Summer Whiskey is on shelves.

We're getting ready to release Lake House Spiced Rum this weekend. We pulled a sample straight from the tank yesterday and you can really taste all the whole, natural ingredients that went in to making this rum: orange peel, vanilla and cardamom. There's also a secret botanical ingredient that we can't reveal, but it's what makes Lake House Spiced Rum unlike anything else out there. Today, we'll bottle it. 

Lake House Spiced Rum goes on sale at noon this Friday, at the distillery only. We'll have special rum cocktails all weekend and free distillery tours on Saturday where we'll show you how we made this spirit. You need to RSVP for the tour.

Bramble was on the bottling line yesterday, and now a fresh batch is out in the world! Bramble is our black raspberry vodka, and people are freaking out about how good it is in a Moscow Mule. We have Bramble Mules on our cocktail menu right now — and they're just $5. 

FIRE AT THE PAGEANT COCKTAIL RECIPE

Jalapeños give a welcome kick to this gorgeous vodka cocktail with hibiscus and citrus.

FIRE AT THE PAGEANT

By Stella Snyder of Cardinal Spirits

2 ounces Cardinal Spirits Vodka infused with hibiscus tea, recipe follows
1/2 ounce fresh lemon juice
3/4 ounce blood orange juice
1/2 ounce simple syrup
3 jalapeño slices
Blood orange slice for garnish

Prepare the hibiscus-infused vodka ahead of time: steep 1 bag of hibiscus tea in 1.5 cups Cardinal Spirits Vodka for a day.  This makes about 12 ounces of infused vodka, or enough for 6 cocktails.

For the cocktail: Add all ingredients except for garnish to a shaker, then add ice. Shake vigorously, then strain into a rocks glass with ice. Garnish with a slice of blood orange.

MEET OUR CREW: STELLA SNYDER

We have the best flock here at Cardinal Spirits, and we want to introduce you to everybody one by one. 
Today, meet Stella Snyder, one of our wonderfully talented bartenders.
Here, Stella answers some Cardinal Qs.

 

STELLA SNYDER

---

WHERE ARE YOU FROM?
Fort Wayne

HOW LONG HAVE YOU LIVED IN BLOOMINGTON?
8 months

WHAT DO YOU LIKE ABOUT LIVING HERE?
The people here are incredibly sweet.  I've made a lot of good friends in the short time I've been here, especially at Cardinal.  I like that it's a very healthy and active town, that it's easy to get outside and go hiking or bike riding.  I like that you can get anywhere in 5 minutes by car — I hate traffic.  

FAVORITE THING TO DRINK
Whiskey

GO-TO DRINK AT CARDINAL
The 24 Carrot Gold is a delicious gin-based cocktail that's on our menu now, and it's made with carrot juice. It was created by our own Baylee Pruitt, and was even featured on the Imbibe website recently! 

WHAT SORTS OF THINGS DO YOU DO WHEN YOU’RE NOT BARTENDING?
I teach yoga to cancer patients in Indianapolis, and it takes up most of my time. I also have 2 dogs, a rat, and a turtle, so that's always fun. And I like to read and do yoga. 

ANY HIDDEN TALENTS WE SHOULD KNOW ABOUT?
I'm really good with animals, they just love me. I'm like Snow White, they are just drawn to me. And I love all of them back, even the spiders and snakes and opossums and bats, and other things that most people don't like. 

WHAT WAS YOUR FIRST JOB?
My first job was at Blondie's Cookies at the mall. And I was blonde, it was pretty cute.

FAVORITE CEREAL?
Peanut butter Captain Crunch.

IF YOU COULD HAVE A DRINK WITH ANYONE…
Sam Cooke for sure! 

ADVICE FOR MAKING DRINKS AT HOME TASTE THEIR BEST?
Make anything that's not a spirit!  Make your own syrups, squeeze your own juices, and even make your bitters and tinctures. There are so many good bartending books out there that tell you exactly how to do everything. And use the right tools. A pretty cocktail shaker tin from Williams-Sonoma isn't going to work as well as a Koriko tin from Cocktail Kingdom.  

TELL US ABOUT SOMETHING INTERESTING THAT’S HAPPENED TO YOU SO FAR IN LIFE.
I took a pretty epic trip to India that involved a delayed flight with Air India, that prompted a riot before and on the plane, and resulted in 36 hours before we reached our destination.  We were immediately led to Ayurvedic doctors who had us take off our clothes for Ayurvedic treatments, such as being beaten with herbal bags or having warm oil dripped over our foreheads.  It was pretty bewildering, especially after such a long journey getting there.  We attended a birthday party for a one year old that was like a carnival with a huge feast of food and several Bollywood-style dancing acts.  We met several vagabond cows, a taxi cab driver named Shaquille O'Neal, crashed an insane wedding, and watched Aarti on the Ganges River.  

MAKE A PREDICTION ABOUT THE FUTURE.
I predict happiness and health for all.

FIND STELLA ON THE INTERWEBS
Instagram: @stellarenee12  |   On Facebook

WE MADE A CUSTOM SPICED PINEAPPLE RUM WITH C3 (AND, YEAH, IT'S AWESOME)

Avocado and toast. 

Coach and Tami Taylor.

The two dancing girls emoji.

We can agree that these are some all-time favorite pairs, right? Fantastic on their own, and something pretty special when they're together. 

Let's add one more: Cardinal Spirits and C3 Bloomington, a craft cocktail bar and restaurant here in town.

We collaborated on a one-of-a-kind custom spirit — C3 Pineapple Spiced Tiki Rum. It's available exclusively at C3, where it will be used in cocktails and sold by the bottle ($25). It launches on Thursday, 4-10pm, at C3, with special cocktails and bottle sales. 

A PINEAPPLE RUM, YOU SAY? 

Using our light Tiki Rum as the base, we steeped a ton of fresh pineapple, orange zest, ancho chiles and other spices to infuse this spirit with incredible flavor. It's a small batch, and it won't be around forever, so get yourself to C3 on Thursday.

MMM. WHAT'S IT TASTE LIKE?

Here's how Nick Matio, C3's bar manager, describes it: beautifully fruit-forward, with growing spice and smokiness on the back. Also: Light, balanced, approachable.

Let's hear from our head distiller, Justin Hughey:

"Some fruit rums are super fruity up front, but have nothing at the back," Justin says. "This one has more depth and flavor than most. You get the whole spectrum of flavors."

SO, HOW'D THE COLLABORATION WORK? WHO DID WHAT?

We went to Nick at C3 with the idea of bespoke booze. Nick picked rum, his favorite spirit, and narrowed in on a subtly spiced pineapple variety. We went back and forth on more than a dozen test batches to dial in the right spices for a gentle heat. Halfway through the test batches, Nick thought to use ancho chiles as the heat source and C3's chef suggested roasting them to get the right depth of flavor. After several weeks of tinkering with samples, we found a winner and scaled up the recipe.

"To have it come to you in bottle form, and it tastes just like you pictured it — that's the coolest part," Nick says. 

WHAT'S THE BEST WAY TO DRINK IT?

It's meant to be both a sipping and cocktailing rum. C3 will feature it in two cocktails on launch day:

1. A Daiquiri. "That's the best test of any rum," Nick says.

2. A Rum Old Fashioned. "A big, boozy, stirred cocktail highlights the rum in a different way," Nick says.

C3 MADE A CUSTOM SPIRIT, AND YOU CAN, TOO.

Yes, we mean it! We distill and brand custom spirits for bars, restaurants, liquor stores and more. 

You might think you'd need to put in a giant order, but all we ask is a 10 case minimum (that's 60 bottles). We've distilled spirits exclusively for Big Red Liquors, Crown Liquors and The Exchange Pub + Kitchen in New Albany, Ind.

"You don't need to know anything about making liquor — just an idea of what you want to do," says Doug Lingo, sales director and a distiller here at Cardinal. "We can take your idea and distill it ourselves, or you can be part of the whole process." 

RSVP for the launch of C3 Spiced Pineapple Tiki Rum

Three Tips for Graduates

Here are three pieces of advice for those of you graduating this year. One thing you should buy, and two things you should do.

1. Buy A Watch.

This Shinola Argonite 708 is the best watch I’ve ever owned. My wife gave it to me for our five year anniversary. By the way, my wife is the author of a blog called What I Wore and is the most incredible person I've ever met, period. You should all follow her on the social medias.

It’s made in Detroit, and it’s got the phases of the moon built into the dial. I’m a huge fan of the moon. I’ve always thought that eventually I will make it there one day. You youngin's have a better chance.

It has a second hand which ticks away the moments, but also the moon moves very slowly across the dial over the month. So it keeps me thinking about how time is relative.

I only started wearing a watch maybe four years ago, but I think wearing a watch is very important because it keeps you from pulling your phone out all the time. When you pull your phone out to check the time, you inevitably check other crap that you shouldn’t be looking at when you’re in the middle of a conversation with someone.

Get yourself a watch. Doesn't have to be expensive. Timex is great. Use it keep an eye on your time. Spend Time With People You Love. How you spend your hours is how you spend your life. Make sure you are doing the right thing with those hours.

2. Write Helpful Emails

This is very tactical, but I really hope you take this advice. Include a link to a google search of your name in any introductory email. It’s the first thing I do when a student emails me. I’ve talked to many other founders and this is true across the board. Right before you sign "Thank you", at the end of the last paragraph (and there should only be two brief paragraphs in any business email, trust me on that) say something like: I hope to hear from you soon, in the meantime, I've taken the liberty of googling myself for you. Hope you like what you find.

If you have a common name, you can joke that you are not the australian rugby player John Smith, you’re the IU student John Smith. If you have a LinkedIn profile, you can link to that too. But linking to the Google search will show the person you're talking to that you are interested in helping them.

This also means that you should control your own Google search results, which should probably be an entire course in college, if not a minor.

3. Never Take the First Offer.

If someone wants to sell you something, they have a reason. If she wants to hire you, she has a reason. Never take the first offer. Consider the ideal outcome for yourself, and negotiate yourself closer to that outcome. Whether that's more money, a better desk, anything.

In Closing

That's about it, kids. This world is too great a mystery for there to be only one approach to it. This is true of world religions, political parties, and everything in between. You are here to be curious, to explore, and to create. 

Have fun, do your best, and always be learning. Repeat those three things over and over, and you'll be fine.

LAKE HOUSE SPICED RUM IS OUR NEWEST SPIRIT

Lake House Spiced Rum will be available at the distillery starting Friday, 4/29, at noon.

It's almost lake time.

Yes, that glorious time of year when us landlocked people of the Midwest start thinking about water. We flock to lakes and rivers, rent cabins and pitch tents, and some of us get invited to a lake house. The fortunate few actually own one (Hi, we’d like to come over. We will bring the booze.).

Our newest spirit is a celebration of all things landlocked - namely lakes and the people who frequent them.

Introducing: Lake House Spiced Rum.

Lake House Spiced Rum is made in small batches from natural, whole botanical ingredients like orange peel, vanilla and cardamom — no flavoring extracts, no coloring. It is fermented and distilled from cane juice, light molasses, sweet hefeweizen yeast and a yeast found on wild sugarcane. It's pleasantly sweet, with a warming, earthy spice.

Maybe the last time you drank spiced rum was from a red Solo cup in college.

And maybe you poured it from a big bottle with a handle at every house party you ever went to, and maybe you've sworn it off since then.

If so, let us be the first to welcome you back to spiced rum.

Lake House Spiced Rum is entirely different, and here's why: Most mass-produced rums are made with a lot of sugar and flavor extracts and coloring. They're made to taste just shy of sickeningly sweet.

We avoided all of that, and still made an incredibly flavorful and fun-to-drink spiced rum. Lake House Spiced Rum is made with orange peel, vanilla, cardamom, cinnamon, black pepper and a secret botanical ingredient that ties everything together, and balances this rum like nothing else on the market.

We repeat: no flavor extracts and no caramel coloring. Both the beautiful hue and flavor comes entirely from the natural, whole spices and botanicals that steep in the rum.

Land dwellers, this new spirit goes out to you.

The coming months are all about tall glasses filled with something fizzy and ice-cold to sip on, like a rum-and-Coke or a Dark and Stormy with rum, ginger beer and lime.

Lake House Spiced Rum hits the spot when you're grilling out. It's the perfect boat cocktail for a Saturday on the water. It's what you bring to your neighbor's pool party. It's your reward after cutting the grass. It's meant for nights spent around a campfire.

Lake House Spiced Rum is also a perfect match for tropical drinks and even classic cocktails (try it in an Old Fashioned).

But, back to rum-and-Cokes for a minute. Did we mention that Lake House makes a damn good one? Like, the best. Our distiller Justin Hughey says a lot of spiced rums don't punch through Coke, but ours definitely does. The cardamom especially comes through. Join us on release day to find out just how refreshing it is.

As with all of our new spirits, Lake House Spiced Rum will be available first at the distillery.
Bottle sales start Friday, 4/29, at noon, and we'll have free samples and special spiced rum-cocktails all weekend.

CARDINAL SPIRITS NOW AT MEIJER STORES

Here's a short list of things we’ve bought at Meijer: A cooler. Gummy bears. Pillows. Ball jars. Snow boots for our kids. A bottle of champagne. Snacks for a road trip.

Meijer sells just about everything, right?

Now, they really DO have everything, because Meijer stores are selling Cardinal Spirits products.

Yes!

Attention Meijer shoppers, Cardinal Spirits is new to the liquor department.

Our spirits will be sold throughout Meijer stores in Indiana starting April 13, and rolling out gradually to most of Meijer's 35 stores statewide.

Meijer will sell Cardinal Spirits Vodka, Standard Dry Gin and Bramble Vodka, made with black raspberries.

Cardinal Spirits is one of the first Indiana craft distilleries to sell its products at Meijer stores. It's a win for us, of course, but for you, too. We love seeing that Indiana-made craft spirits are easier than ever to come by. 

Next time you run in to buy batteries, you can buy our Bramble. too. On a milk run, snag a bottle of our Vodka. Grocery shopping for the week? Put Standard Dry Gin on your list. And if you need ideas on how to use any of it, we have a bunch of recipes right here. 

Did you know that our spirits are available in 200+ establishments in Indiana? We're in liquor stores, grocery stores, bars, restaurants and hotels. Major retailers include Kroger, Big Red Liquors, Schnucks, and Crown Liquors. And now, Meijer. Our growing list of retailers is right here.

CLOUD 9 COCKTAIL RECIPE

Our Standard Dry Gin and our Songbird Flora Liqueur make the perfect pair, and here they're shaken together into a lush cocktail with a light and lofty cap. This heavenly drink is aptly named Cloud 9, created by Cardinal Spirits bartender Stella Snyde.

CLOUD 9

By Stella Snyder of Cardinal Spirits

1.5 ounces Cardinal Spirits Standard Dry Gin
1/2 ounce Cardinal Spirits Flora Liqueur
1/2 ounce simple syrup
3/4 ounce fresh lemon juice
1 egg white
3-4 dashes lavender bitters

Add all ingredients to a shaker without ice and shake vigorously, to emulsify the egg white. Then, add ice to the shaker and shake again, this time to chill and dilute the cocktail. Strain into a coupe glass. 

BEHIND THE BAR: UPTOWN CAFE

Bartenders hear our stories all the time. So let's hear theirs for a change. This is Behind the Bar: interviews with bartenders over a drink (or two). 
— by Kajal Singh
 

Today we're pulling up a bar stool at Michael’s Uptown Café in Bloomington to chat with bar manager Andrew Wind and bartender Micky Leonard. (Fun fact about Andrew: he used to tend bar at Cardinal Spirits!) 

Uptown is a comfortable bar that has a neighborhood feel, and in addition to classic and modern cocktails, it serves Cajun and Creole-inspired food and a killer weekend brunch. It's one of the wonderful Bloomington establishments that serves Cardinal Spirits, namely our Songbird Craft Coffee Liqueur. You'll find it in the brunch cocktail called Caffe Uccello, made with Cardinal Spirits Songbird Craft Coffee Liqueur, ginger liqueur, Amaro Averna and a shot of espresso.

Micky Leonard (left) and Andrew Wind (right) of Uptown.

Tell us about the very first time you had a cocktail.

Andrew: The first time I had a proper cocktail was in Pittsburgh at a bar called Tender. I had the Don Lockwood: Laphroaig Scotch, maple syrup and chocolate bitters. It’s named after a character in Singin’ in the Rain.
 
Micky: My first cocktail was a Sex on the Beach at a club in Spain. I was at this club and I was like, I’m going to get a Sex on the Beach for sure. It was real weird and gross. I guess my first proper cocktail was the Last Word at Uptown.
 
What’s your story? How’d you get to be a bartender?

Andrew: I’m an actor, both on stage and screen. I went to college for acting. After graduating college, I moved down to Florida. Had some TV gigs down in Miami. I wasn’t feeling the vibe in Florida though, so I moved to Pittsburgh and I started working at a beer bar to pay the bills while I was acting. I wanted to do something a bit more creative so I started looking into cocktail bartending. Fast forward a bit, and I met Logan Hunter (general manager at Cardinal Spirits and former Uptown bartender) and he gave me a couple of books to read. I love the fact that bartending is always new and you can interact with different people. It’s a great way to do character studies, in terms of acting. You can also be very creative and tap into something quite historical.
 
Micky: I am originally from Carmel, Indiana. I lived there until I was 17 and then moved to the Netherlands with my family. I finished up high school in the Netherlands and I came back to Indiana University for college and grad school. I started working at the Uptown during grad school. I started a band in 2012 with my brother; we’ve been rocking pretty hard. I really love bartending; it’s a really fun, creative and high paced job. I am done with school now but I decided to continue bartending for a while. 

A Caffe Uccello cocktail in the making at Uptown.

If you could have a drink with anyone, dead or alive, who would it be? What would you drink?

Micky: Kurt Cobain. Coffee and cigarettes.
 
Andrew: This is going to sound super pretentious but there’s this theatre practitioner named Antonin Artaud. His specialty is the theater of cruelty – which is not letting the audience rest on their laurels when they’re in the show. There’s this sense of comfort when you watch theater and he believed theater wasn’t really theater under that guise. I would like to drink with him. He was a really crazy guy and I’d love to pick his brain over a few drinks. It would be in Paris, France, and drinking absinthe. Maybe having a couple cigarettes.
 
What is your go-to hangover cure?

Andrew: Club soda and bitters, it works every time.
 
Micky: My magic hangover cure is ginger ale.

Uptown's Caffe Uccello, made with Cardinal Spirits Songbird Craft Coffee Liqueur.

If you walked into Cardinal Spirits right now, what would you order?

Andrew: I really am a fan of the Red Bird Elixir (Cardinal's house-made riff on Campari that is typically used a negroni). So, a little bit of that with club soda and lemon. But my favorite spirit is your Standard Dry Gin.
 
Micky: Gin and tonic with the Standard Dry Gin.

What makes Cardinal Spirits different than other craft distilleries?

Andrew: They are really interested in giving the public what they want and listening to their feedback. They aren’t just in it for the money; they’ve really created a local business that families in Bloomington can be proud to bring their family to. Considering that Cardinal Spirits can’t purchase spirits from outside of the distillery, the fact the people keep coming back is saying something.
 
Micky: Cardinal molds new tastes, ideas and flavors with a classic retelling. It’s fun and interesting. 
 
 
What’s the best piece of advice you’ve been given?

Andrew: For behind the bar: Slow is smooth, smooth is fast. For life: keep moving forward.
 
Micky: My Dad always said, “Let it roll off, like water off of a duck’s back.” It’s a good image that’s very peaceful and it helps me collect myself.