Hot Hopscotch recipe

The easiest brunch drink you ever did see. 

HOT HOPSCOTCH 

Makes 1 cocktail

1.5 ounces Cardinal Spirits Songbird Coffee Liqueur
6 ounces hot coffee
Whipped cream (optional garnish)

Add liqueur and coffee to a mug and give it a lil' stir. Top with whipped cream if you'd like.

Handsome Devil Cocktail Recipe

With just two ingredients, this cocktail by our bartender Chris Resnick couldn't be easier to make. Go on, give it a try!

HANDSOME DEVIL

By Chris Resnick of Cardinal Spirits

1.5 ounces Cardinal Spirits Songbird Coffee Liqueur
3⁄4 ounce Cardinal Spirits Lake House Spiced Rum

Combine all ingredients into a shaker and shake vigorously. Strain into a rocks glass and garnish with a lemon twist.

Songbird Coffee Liqueur Caramels

These soft, chewy caramels are spiked with our Songbird Coffee Liqueur — a perfect homemade treat to make and give to someone special. They taste like a fancy latte! Trust us: You don't have to be a pro candy maker to pull off this easy recipe (though you will need a candy thermometer or an instant-read thermometer for best results).

SONGBIRD COFFEE LIQUEUR CARAMELS

By Samantha Weiss-Hills

Makes about 10 dozen caramels, or less depending on how generously you cut them

1/2 cup heavy cream
1 cup sugar
3/4 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup corn syrup
6 tablespoons butter
1/4 cup Cardinal Spirits Songbird Coffee Liqueur
1/2 teaspoon espresso powder (optional)
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
1 teaspoon salt

1. Line an 8-inch square baking pan with aluminum foil or parchment paper, letting it extend over the sides.

2. Pour the cream into a heavy, medium-sized saucepan. Attach a candy thermometer to the pan, and bring to a boil. (Alternatively, if you have an accurate digital thermometer, you can have that on hand for later.)

3. Once the mixture comes to a boil, add the sugar, brown sugar and corn syrup, and stir constantly with a wooden spoon or heat-resistant spatula until the mixture comes to a boil. Cook, stirring occasionally, until the mixture reaches 257 degrees, 15 to 30 minutes.

4. Remove the pan from the heat and, with oven mitts on, stir in the butter, Songbird Coffee Liqueur, espresso powder (if using), vanilla extract and salt. Pour into the prepared pan.

5. Place the pan in refrigerator until completely cool. Once cooled, invert the caramel onto a cutting board, peel off the foil or parchment, and invert again.

6. Cut the caramel into eight 1-inch-wide strips; then cut each strip into 1/2-inch pieces. Serve or store in pieces of parchment for later.

Berry Brambler Cocktail Recipe

This cocktail tastes complex — like it has a bunch of ingredients and like you put a lot of work into it. The truth is, it couldn't be easier. You need just two spirits — our Bramble (black raspberry vodka) and our Songbird Craft Coffee Liqueur — plus a dash of bitters. Both spirits are immensely flavorful, so they do the heavy lifting in cocktails like this. With berry and coffee flavors, you might file this away as a dessert drink, but we guarantee you'll enjoy it anytime. 

BERRY BRAMBLER

2.5 ounces Cardinal Spirits Bramble Vodka
1/2 ounce Cardinal Spirits Songbird Craft Coffee Liqueur
1 dash orange bitters

Combine ingredients in a shaker, then add ice. Shake vigorously, then strain into a coupe glass.

HONEY BUZZ RECIPE

Honey, vanilla, coffee, cinnamon ... hello, holidays! This festive cocktail makes winter nights merrier — sip it while you're waiting for the cookie dough to chill, online shopping or addressing Christmas cards.

HONEY BUZZ

By Jake Cifuentes

1.5 ounces Cardinal Spirits Honey Vanilla Vodka
1/2 ounce Cardinal Spirits Songbird Craft Coffee Liqueur
1/4 ounce simple syrup
2 dashes cinnamon bitters
Lemon wheel and cloves, for garnish

Combine ingredients in a shaker with ice. Shake vigorously, then strain into a coupe glass. Garnish with a clove-studded lemon wheel.

SLOW HAND COCKTAIL RECIPE

This Slow Hand cocktail by Cardinal bartender Jake Cifuentes is like a liquid version of Mexican chocolate — rich, smooth, spicy. Even though it's served over ice, it's naturally warming thanks to a kick from the cocoa-cayenne syrup. So good for fall.

SLOW HAND

By Jake Cifuentes

1 ounce cocoa-cayenne simple syrup*
2 ounces Cardinal Spirits Songbird Craft Coffee Liqueur
2 ounces Cardinal Spirits Vodka
Whole coffee beans for garnish

Combine ingredients in a shaker with ice; shake and strain into a glass with ice. Garnish with a few coffee beans.

*To make a the cocoa-cayenne simple syrup: Combine 1 cup water, 1 cup sugar, 1 teaspoon cayenne powder, and 1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder in a saucepan. Bring to a simmer to dissolve ingredients. Remove from heat and let cool before using. Add more cayenne to taste if you like more heat!

Want more Cardinal cocktail recipes? Find them all right here. 

THE SOURCE: THE CHOCOLATE MOOSE

From our bar stools to our cocktail ingredients, everything that we source here
at Cardinal Spirits has a story. Eventually, we'll tell you all of them.

In towns across America, there's that one ice cream shop where everyone lines up on summer nights, hoping that the two dozen people in front of them have their order and money ready (they never do). In Bloomington, that place is The Chocolate Moose.

The tiny, old-school stand has a giant menu of homemade ice cream, soft serve and dairy-free flavors, served simply in cones or teased into shakes, floats, freezes, sundaes and parfaits. It's the kind of place where you might spend the entire time in line making a decision, and still not know your order when you get to the window.

The Moose's ice cream can be found at stores and restaurants in town, too. In fact, The Moose makes two varieties of spiked ice cream, just for Cardinal: Moscow Mule with our vodka, and one with our Songbird Craft Coffee Liqueur. We sell them both by the scoop and by the half-pint at the distillery. 

We caught up with Justin Loveless, the owner of the Chocolate Moose, to get the scoop on this Bloomington icon:

CARDINAL: We are a long way from moose country. How did this Moose come to be?

JUSTIN: The original owners, the May family, built a restaurant in the ‘50s. Their son was not interested in the food industry, but loved the idea of homemade ice cream. When the Mays retired, they handed the restaurant to their son who opened it as an ice cream shop called The Penguin. Sometime in the ‘80s the May brothers sold the shop, only to buy it back a couple of years later. At that point they lost the rights to the name, and rather than spend extra money buying it back, they changed the name to The Chocolate Moose.

Strawberry sundae.

A 50-cent googly-eyed Torch Cone.

Say it's your first time at the Chocolate Moose, and you are nervously looking over the colossal menu. What do you order?

Keep it simple so you don't get embarrassed in front of the 30 people standing in line around you. Just order a simple cup of the homemade ice cream.

Which ice cream flavor is most popular?

The top selling item is the legendary Grasshopper — homemade mint Oreo. I suggest throwing some hot fudge on it.

What do you suggest when it comes to a Blizz (ice cream blended with your choice stir-ins like brownies, cookie dough and Reese's cups)?

I'm a chocolate/peanut butter guy, so I go with the homemade Moose Dream (homemade chocolate ice cream with peanut butter cups) with Heath bar stirred in.

Tell us about The Moose's dairy-free options. 

Our homemade vegan ice cream is very popular. It is a coconut milk–based ice cream instead of dairy–based. The majority of the sweetener is agave nectar. We currently have Vegan Vanilla, Chocolate, Strawberry and Grasshopper. Special batches, such as Cookie Dough and Brown County Coffee, are made fairly often as well.

Moscow Mule ice cream made with Cardinal Spirits vodka.

The Moose is now on menus all around town, serves Uel Zing coffee and Brown County coffee ice cream, and has been making special appearances in places like Upland and now Cardinal Spirits. What's the idea behind all these collaborations?

It’s a win­-win situation. Collaborating offers co-­promotion and allows two brand communities to come together. Ice cream made with a vodka base is fairly simple. I had made that type of ice cream previously for other restaurants, so dialed in on the Moscow Mule for Cardinal Spirits. Then we moved to Songbird Craft Coffee Liqueur. Our winter project will be to pair with local breweries. Beer ice cream is a different animal.

What is in store for the Moose this fall?

We recently signed with Indiana University to be at sporting events, which is very exciting. We will have a stand that offers five or six different flavors available in half pints. The half pint is our newest twist.

Crowds at Food Truck Friday.

Instagram it!

On Fridays, a bunch of food trucks gather in your parking lot to serve lunch and dinner. How did Food Truck Friday get going?

It started as a fundraiser for the Project School at Bryan Park. Then we thought having food trucks would be a great way to utilize our parking lot. It’s fairly small overhead for us, and a lot of fun. Now we are theming each Friday, giving some a music festival feel, while others are focused on other big crowd pleasers.

The line outside the moose is almost always theme park worthy. Will ‘the box’ ever expand or change to meet the demand of anxious ice cream connoisseurs?

The theme is here to stay. Even with the possibility of future expansion, we would keep the feel of the place and all of the new additions would be made as replicas to what we currently have in place. The Moose has a footprint here in Bloomington.

Hey! We'll take one of everything.

A peek inside the tiny ice cream shop.

How does a tiny ice cream stand stay alive year­-round?

Wholesale and our ice-delivery program is what keeps us going in the winter. What started as a summertime boutique blew up — a lot of people want our ice cream, so we now distribute to a lot of local grocery stores around town, including the IGA’s in Spencer, Unionville, and Brown County. As for the ice, we deliver to bars after hours, and cater to big events like weddings and happenings on campus. Just a couple months ago we put in an ice kiosk. It’s pretty sweet.

Photos by Jonna Yost and Cardinal Spirits.