Spiced Rum Negroni recipe

A negroni is a rock-solid recipe: equal parts gin, Campari, and sweet vermouth. So, why mess with it like we do here, by swapping gin for Cardinal Spirits Lake House Spiced Rum? The warming, spicy finish of spiced rum against the bitterness of Campari is a game changer. Once you have this spiced rum negroni, you might never go back to the classic version. Sorry, not sorry.

SPICED RUM NEGRONI

By Alyvia Cain of Cardinal Spirits

1 ounce Cardinal Spirits Lake House Spiced Rum
1 ounce Campari
1 ounce sweet vermouth
Wide strip of orange peel, for garnish

Add all ingredients except orange peel to a mixing glass, then add ice and stir for 20 seconds. Strain over a big ice cube in rocks glass. Express the oils from an orange peel by pinching it peel-side down over the glass, then drop the peel in the glass to garnish.

Rummy Hot Chocolate cocktail recipe

This is a hot chocolate for grown-ups, and not just because of the rum. It's dark and rich and bittersweet, and it's flecked with orange zest and cinnamon — definitely not the hot chocolate of your youth (though 9-year-old you will be quite pleased with that iceberg of whipped cream). 

Our Lake House Spiced Rum has spicy notes that play off chocolate like a charm, and working a few fresh, fragrant scrapes of orange zest and a dusting of warming cinnamon for garnish echoes the actual orange zest and cinnamon that we infuse in our rum. This spiked chocolate is a little unexpected, and that's what makes it special. 

RUMMY HOT CHOCOLATE

By Samantha Weiss-Hills

Serves 1

1.5 ounces Cardinal Spirits Lake House Spiced Rum
1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract (optional)
1 ounce dark chocolate (like 60% cacao Ghirardelli), broken into pieces
1 heaping tablespoon unsweetened cocoa powder
1 cup milk, divided
Whipped cream, for garnish
Cinnamon, for garnish
Grated orange zest, for garnish

1. In a large mug, add the rum and vanilla extract. Set aside.
2. In a small saucepan, mix the dark chocolate, cocoa powder, and 1/2 cup of the milk over low heat. Stir or whisk continuously until the chocolate is completely melted.
3. Add the rest of the milk. Stir, then allow to heat the rest of the way through.
4. Pour into the rum-filled mug, then top with whipped cream, a dusting of ground cinnamon, and orange zest.

To batch this drink for a crowd: You can easily scale up this recipe for a large group of merrymakers. Use a large saucepan, and heat the chocolate and cocoa with half of the total milk first, as you would if you were making a single serving. If you're making it ahead, keep the hot chocolate warming in the saucepan over your stove's lowest setting, stirring occasionally, or transfer the hot chocolate to a thermos. Pour the hot chocolate into the rum-filled mugs when it's go-time.

One last thing: There's no added sugar in this recipe, so if you happen to like your hot chocolate on the classically sweeter side, add a teaspoon or two of sugar per serving along with the cocoa powder.

Lady Rizzo Cocktail Recipe

Having your girlfriends over for holiday drinks? This is the cocktail to make for them.
It's lovely and festive!

LADY RIZZO
By Alex Utter of Cardinal Spirits

1 ounce Cardinal Spirits Tiki Rum
3/4 ounce Cardinal Spirits Lake House Spiced Rum
2 chunks of honey crisp apple
3/4 ounce cranberry syrup (recipe follows)
1/2 ounce lemon juice
1/2 ounce lime juice

Add the apple chunks and cranberry syrup to a shaker tin and muddle. Add all other ingredients and shake vigorously with ice for 15 seconds. Strain into a large rocks glass filled with ice and garnish with a thin apple slice.

To make cranberry syrup: Heat 1 cup of 100% cranberry juice (no sugar added) and 2 cups sugar in a saucepan over low heat until sugar is completely dissolved. Let cool completely before using; store in refrigerator.

Night Swim cocktail recipe

One of our favorite cocktails this summer has been a rum Old Fashioned made with our Lake House Spiced Rum. This version by our bartender Kevin Hinkle combines our spiced rum with our White Oak Whiskey for a one-of-a-kind twist on an Old Fashioned.

NIGHT SWIM

By Kevin Hinkle of Cardinal Spirits

1 ounce Cardinal Spirits Lake House Spiced Rum
3/4 ounce Cardinal Spirits White Oak Whiskey
1/4 ounce vanilla demerara syrup (recipe follows)
2 dashes aromatic bitters
1 orange wheel, for garnish

Combine all ingredients in a mixing glass or tin, then add ice. Stir several times to chill and dilute the cocktail. Strain into a rocks glass filled with ice, then garnish with an orange wheel.

To make vanilla demerara syrup: Combine 1 cup water and 2 cups turbinado sugar in a saucepan over medium heat, and stir until sugar has dissolved. Remove from heat. Split 1 vanilla bean and add it to the saucepan. Let the syrup cool completely, then remove the vanilla bean.

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.