92 Points Cocktail Recipe

This 92 Points cocktail plays up all the best parts of Cardinal Spirits Tiki Rum, a light, tropical rum that was just awarded 92 points and a “Best Buy” rating from Wine Enthusiast magazine. The recipe easily scales up to a punch — just add the ginger beer right before serving, or let guests top their drinks with ginger beer themselves.

92 POINTS

Recipe by Cardinal Spirits

1.5 ounces Cardinal Spirits Tiki Rum
1 ounce pineapple juice
1/2 ounce ginger syrup
1/2 ounce fresh lemon juice
2 dashes bitters
1 ounce ginger beer, more or less to taste
Mint sprig, for garnish

Add rum, pineapple juice, ginger syrup, lemon juice and bitters to a shaker, then add ice and shake vigorously. Strain into a rocks glass filled with ice, then top with ginger beer and garnish with mint.

To make ginger syrup: Peel several chunks of ginger, slice into thin rounds. Combine 1 cup water and 1 cup sugar in a saucepan over medium-high heat, and stir to dissolve sugar. Add sliced ginger to the saucepan, and bring to a simmer. Remove from heat and let cool. Strain ginger slices from syrup before using.

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.

GIN N' BITTERS COCKTAIL RECIPE

If one or two dashes of bitters balances out the flavors of a cocktail, what will 10 dashes of bitters do? Find out by making this curious 1950s cocktail called Bin n' Gitters with our bartender Chris Resnick:

BIN N' GITTERS

2 ounces Cardinal Spirits Standard Dry Gin
3/4 ounce fresh lime juice
1/2 ounce simple syrup
10 dashes angostura bitters
Mint for garnish

Add gin, lime juice and simple syrup to a rocks glass with crushed ice. Stir to combine, then top off the glass with more crushed ice. Top liberally with 10 dashes of bitters, or more if you'd like, then garnish with a mint sprig.

 

Cardinal in the Wild: Scenic View in Bloomington

Sitting on the patio at Scenic View with fish tacos and a cocktail in front of you is a summer must here in Bloomington. The family-owned restaurant is just nine miles southeast of downtown, yet it feels farther — not in a bad way, though. It feels like ... a destination. A little escape. Perched on a wooded bluff overlooking Lake Monroe, Scenic View offers views, indeed — the sweeping, tree-top, big-sky, birds-eye sort — and even a bit of the lake itself, hence the name.

It's one of the wonderful establishments in Bloomington that serves Cardinal Spirits in its cocktails. 

We chatted with Sadie Clarke, the general manager at Scenic View, about what to expect on its latest cocktail menu, which highlights local and regional producers. In: Cardinal Spirits Tiki Rum. Out: Bacardi. 

The view. Pretty even on a gloomy day.

Cardinal Punch, with our Bramble, Flora and Tiki Rum, plus lemon, lime and orange juices.

The small but mighty bar at Scenic View.

Cardinal: Let’s talk about the literal view. Can you share any fun facts about the view of Lake Monroe from the restaurant? What kind of boats do you see out there?

Sadie: It does take 45 minutes to an hour to get to that spot (from shore). People think it’s a lot closer, but it’s not. We have a lot of people joke because they never see boats down there. 

Cardinal: What’s special about the drinks at Scenic View?

Sadie: We do not normally have mainstream alcohol. We don’t have Grey Goose. Instead of Bacardi, we have Cardinal Spirits Tiki Rum. We always try to get customers to try new things. We make all our syrups here and all our mixes for cocktails.

When I first started working here, we had domestic beers on draft, now we don’t have any domestics on draft — it’s all local. Most people, especially in Bloomington, are more locally conscious. 

Scenic View has five new cocktails with Cardinal Spirits products.

Cardinal: What drinks are most popular?

Sadie: People love our Bloody Marys. We probably go through hundreds on Sundays. We make the mix here. The base is V8 and then we add our own spices and pickle juice, and then we do seasoned-salt rim and garnish with hand-stuffed blue cheese olives and sweet pickles. Our Bloody Marys are just really hearty. I love Bloody Marys — wherever I go, I try one, and since I’ve worked here, I’ve been disappointed almost every time.

Cardinal: What’s new on your cocktail menu?

Sadie: This is the first season that we’ve really stripped our cocktail list and added more signature, seaside-type drinks. They’re more than your Rum Rummer, Sex on the Beach-type drinks. They’re definitely craftier than that.

And we have five cocktails with Cardinal Spirits.

We carry Cardinal Spirits Tiki Rum, Bramble and Flora. For one of the drinks, we have them all together with fruit juices, and now that’s our Cardinal Punch. People love that.

I love Moscow Mules. So we made our version of one called the Blackberry Hibiscus Limeade with the Bramble — it’s awesome. 

Sadie makes a brunch drink with Cardinal Spirits Flora and champagne. 

Cardinal: Do you have a favorite Cardinal Spirits product?

Sadie: You know, I don’t normally drink flavored vodka, but I do love Bramble (a vodka made with black raspberries). It’s not overly sweet or floral, and it’s great in a Moscow Mule with fresh lime juice and ginger beer.

Cardinal: On a nice weekend day, Scenic View is packed and there’s usually a decent wait. Any insider tips for avoiding a wait?

Sadie: We take reservations for parties of 8 or more, inside or in our beer garden. The front patio is always first come, first serve. I always say come in between 3-5pm, however, on Saturdays and Sundays when it’s nice, people know that now … so even then, it’s been busy.

Limited-edition Graduation Vodka (and the one vodka cocktail recipe everyone loves)

Know someone who is graduating from IU this weekend? Send them out into the real world with a commemorative bottle of a Bloomington-made product. 

We've created a special bottling of our vodka just for the Class of 2016. Bottles are $25, available at the distillery only.

Are you graduating this weekend? Congrats! Treat yourself and take a piece of Bloomington with you wherever your next adventure leads you.

Now, how to drink it? If there's one vodka cocktail you should commit to memory, it's this:

The Moscow Mule. 

It could not be easier to make — it's just vodka, lime juice and ginger beer — no shaking or hard-to-find ingredients, and yet everyone adores how refreshing it is. Make it for your new roommates/friends/coworkers in Seattle or Indy or Minneapolis or wherever your next stop is. 

MOSCOW MULE

1.5 ounces Cardinal Spirits Vodka
1/2 ounce fresh squeezed lime juice
Ginger beer, to taste
Lime wedge, for garnish

Add vodka and lime juice to a copper mug, then fill with ice. Fill with ginger beer and garnish with lime wedge. 

Income Tax cocktail recipe

Cardinal Spirits bartender Stella Snyder shows how to make this classic cocktail using our Standard Dry Gin.

INCOME TAX

1.5 ounces Cardinal Spirits Standard Dry Gin
1/4 ounce dry vermouth
1/4 ounce sweet vermouth
1 ounce fresh orange juice
1 dash Angostura bitters
Orange twist, for garnish

Add all ingredients except garnish to a shaker with ice. Shake vigorously, then strain into a coupe glass an garnish with an orange twist.

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