WALNUT MANHATTAN COCKTAIL RECIPE

Nocino, our newest spirit arriving this Saturday, is definitely delicious all on its own. It is, after all, a digestif, meant to be sipped neat after a meal. But Nocino is fun to play around with in cocktails, too— it can be that subtle twist that makes a drink memorable.

Take the Manhattan. You've had dozens of them. But have you had one with Nocino? The warm, earthy notes of Nocino are right at home in this classic cocktail, adding a lusciousness that makes this drink appeal to even those who wouldn't normally order a Manhattan. 

It's a perfect signature cocktail for your annual holiday dinner with friends — say, Friendsgiving? Nocino will be available by the bottle at the distillery only starting Saturday. 

WALNUT MANHATTAN

By Chris Resnick

Makes 1 cocktail

1.5 oz Cardinal Spirits White Oak Whiskey
3/4 oz Cardinal Spirits Nocino
1/2 oz sweet vermouth
dash of bitters

Stir gently with ice, then strain into a cold glass.

RSVP TO NOCINO RELEASE DAY

OUR NEXT RELEASE: NOCINO

A digestif, or a spirit that is sipped after dinner, is a ritual that we can get on board with this time of year — just a little pour of something special that warms you from head to toe.

Our newest spirit, nocino, is exactly that.

Nocino is a traditional Italian liqueur made with green, unripe walnuts. For our version, we harvested walnuts right here in Indiana, then combined them with our vodka and spices, and let that steep for months. The result: A luscious, mellow, earthy elixir that has this wonderful, naturally warming quality. It's meant for this time of year.

A 375ml bottle is $25, and with the holidays coming up, it makes the perfect host gift: It's local, unusual and easy to drink. So, one for you, and one to share, perhaps? 

As far as we can tell, this is the first Indiana amaro (a.k.a. an Italian after-dinner drink). You can sip our nocino neat, mix it into cocktails or pour it over ice cream. 

This is a special spirit for us. It all started with this walnut tree and its bounty:

The tree belongs to Cardinal Spirits co-founder Adam Quirk's uncle- and aunt-in-law, Walt and Barb Schroeder, of Fort Wayne. Walt's walnut trees are volunteer seedlings from his own aunt and uncle in Ohio. Walt remembers the young trees were about a pencil's width and 2 feet tall when he planted them. Fast forward many years, to Adam and his wife, Jessica, and some of their family, loading several baskets with green walnuts from this big, plentiful tree. 

Nocino is something that many Italians would traditionally make from scratch to have on hand for family and friends. Cardinal Spirits co-founder Rick Dietz researched those family recipes and translated them from Italian. The instructions offered great tid-bits, surely from some knowledgable Nonnas, on when to harvest the walnuts (on June 24, the Feast of St. John the Baptist), how long to age them (many recipes say at least 40 days, but one said exactly 48), what to add in (cinnamon, cloves and lemon peel are common) and agitation techniques (stir the walnuts for two minutes at a time, every few days, with a dedicated wooden spoon).

We made our nocino the old-fashioned way. We quartered the walnuts, then submerged them in vodka along with spices, and left to steep for months. Over time, the mixture got darker and darker.

Last week, we took a trip to Burton's Maplewood Farm in Medora, Ind., to get the last ingredient for our nocino — maple syrup. Burton's syrup is legendary, and it's the perfect foil to bitterness from the walnuts.

Now all that's left to do is fire up the bottling line and fill, fill, fill. We can't wait for you to try our newest spirit starting Saturday! 

CRAFTPACK, VOL. 9

Links that make you go Hmmm.

Cool Material gave our exclusive whiskey glasses a little love last week. 

How 14 common cocktails got their names.

Brew your coffee with vinegar. Um, whatnow?

A kitschy, dive bar-ish take on the Mexican bulldog. Yay or nay?

Spilling secrets: Did you catch our video on how we make our Songbird Craft Coffee Liqueur? 

CLOVER CLUB RECIPE

Cardinal bartender Stella Snyder shows us how to make a classic gin cocktail called the Clover Club. It's tart, a touch sweet, a lovely rosy color with a foamy cap — what's not to love?

A note on your shaking technique: cocktails like this one that call for egg white are usually shaken in two steps. The first is a so-called dry shake without ice — this emulsifies the egg white. Then, add ice and shake a second time, which chills and properly dilutes the drink. Cheers!

CLOVER CLUB

1.5 ounces Cardinal Spirits Standard Dry Gin
Egg white
3/4 ounce lemon juice
1/2 ounce raspberry simple syrup (recipe follows)

Add all ingredients to a shaker without ice, and shake vigorously to emulsify the egg with the other ingredients. Add ice to the shaker and shake a second time. Strain into a coupe glass. 

To make the raspberry simple syrup: Combine 1 cup water, 1 cup sugar and 1 pint raspberries (small package) in a saucepan and bring to a simmer over medium-low heat. Simmer for 5 minutes; let cool, then strain before using.

MEET OUR CREW: MICHELLE GOTTSCHLICH

We've got a spectacular crew here at Cardinal Spirits, and we'd like to introduce you to everybody one by one. Today, meet Michelle, one of our wonderful servers.

MICHELLE GOTTSCHLICH

HOMETOWN
Portage, Ind.

HOW LONG HAVE YOU LIVED IN BLOOMINGTON
7 years

BEST PART ABOUT LIVING HERE?
 A lot of lively and creative people live here--there's always something to get into; a show, an art opening, a film at the cinema, food, food, booze, food. It's also very walkable!

FAVORITE THING TO DRINK
Negronis and coconut flavored La Croix (not together)

GO-TO DRINK AT CARDINAL
Every cocktail by Baylee

TELL US SOMETHING INTERESTING ABOUT YOU.
I had a book of poetry published last spring!

ANY HIDDEN TALENTS?
Up to this point, I've never broken a bone, had a nosebleed, or been in a traffic accident besides falling off my bike

FIRST JOB/WORST JOB
First job was working at a IMAX movie theater when I was 15. Worst job was life guarding.

READ ANYTHING GOOD LATELY?
I'm currently reading Madness, Rack, and Honey. It's a book of lectures by the poet Mary Ruefle.

FAVORITE CEREAL
Honey Bunches of Oats

IF YOU COULD HAVE A DRINK WITH ANYONE…
Probably my maternal great grandmother Vanetta (who could drink like a sailor, I've heard)

IN THE THE FUTURE…
Married folks will have increasing trouble with hyphenating already hyphenated last names. It will eventually be more popular to use the maternal last name. Also, down with the patriarchy <3

FIND MICHELLE
On Instagram @chellesbells11  |  On Facebook

---

MEET MORE OF OUR FLOCK:

ALEX UTTER

CHRIS RESNICK

ALYVIA CAIN

HERE'S HOW WE MAKE SONGBIRD CRAFT COFFEE LIQUEUR

Our Songbird Craft Coffee Liqueur is nothing short of magical. If you've had a sip — either straight, or in a cocktail — you've probably noticed how much it tastes like coffee. Which gets you thinking: How's this spirit made, anyway? 

Watch as we make a batch from start to finish.

Then come to the distillery, where you can try a sample or a cocktail make with our coffee liqueur. You can also buy a bottle at the distillery, or at retailers across the state. 

Video by Anna Powell Teeter

OUR MOST POPULAR COFFEE LIQUEUR COCKTAIL RECIPES:

CAFE A L'ORANGE

SLOW HAND

MINT + COFFEE COCKTAIL

CRAFTPACK, VOL. 8

Links that make you go Hmmm.

A roundup of new cocktail books, including a scratch-and-sniff book about whiskey, to put on your holiday wish list.

A couple of coffee reads for your Monday morning: Peet's, which bought Stumptown recently, acquired Intelligentsia last week, plus: the future of fancy iced coffee. 

What do you think about these upgrades to shameful cocktail orders of our youth?

Well, fizzy fruit is our new favorite garnish.

MORE CRAFTPACK:
VOL. 1  |  VOL. 2  |  VOL. 3  |  VOL. 4  |  VOL. 5  |  VOL. 6  |  VOL. 7

AUTUMN SMOKE COCKTAIL RECIPE

Lapsang souchong, a smoky black tea, combined with pear juice, cinnamon and our Tiki Rum gives this cocktail its amazing fireside flavor. Cardinal bartender Stella Snyder shows us how to shake it up.

AUTUMN SMOKE

By Stella Snyder

1.5 ounces Cardinal Spirits Tiki Rum
1.5 ounces pear juice
3/4 ounce lemon juice
1/2 ounce lapsang souchong simple syrup* 
dash cinnamon bitters

Shake with ice; pour the liquid and ice into a cocktail glass and garnish with a cinnamon stick.

*To make lapsang souchong simple syrup: combine 1 cup water, 1 cup sugar, and 2 bags of lapsang souchong tea in a saucepan. Simmer for 5 minutes. Let cool, then remove tea bags. 

THE SOURCE: Blu Boy Chocolate

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.

Blu Boy chocolates filled with Cardinal Spirits vodka.

If you think they only way to enjoy our vodka is to drink it, then you've missed the corner of our menu where we offer chocolates filled with our vodka. Oh yes. It's a crazy-good idea. They're available only at the distillery and they're made just for us by Blu Boy Chocolate, a sweet little shop in downtown Bloomington that's known for hand-made gourmet chocolates and desserts, plus espresso drinks.

Some of the chocolates have patterned and hand-painted shells that are so pretty, you almost hate to take a bite — like ours, imprinted with tiny red cardinals. But you must bite, otherwise you'd miss out on superb ganache-filled chocolates scented with blood orange, jasmine and ancho chile, and hand-rolled truffles in flavors like raspberry dark-chocolate. Meanwhile, the pastry case at Blu Boy is stocked with French macarons, salted caramel brownies and layer cakes. And let's not forget the shop's signature ice cream sandwich, made with local honey ice cream.

We chatted with Dani Doyle, Blu Boy's COO, about Cardinal's specialty chocolates and more:

Cardinal chocolate shells

Cardinal chocolates filled with ganache

WITH THE CARDINAL CHOCOLATES, WHEN DOES THE VODKA COME INTO PLAY?

The vodka comes in with the ganache — the filling. Once the chocolate and heavy cream are all mixed up and you've got your traditional ganache, that's when we'll add the vodka in.  There's no set ratio, it's just what tastes right. 

AND CAN YOU ACTUALLY TASTE THE VODKA?

With Cardinal vodka, which has such a distinctive taste, you can definitely pick that up. And it makes the ganache a little more soft. 

Lavender and dark chocolate-ganache chocolates.

Hand-painted chocolate shells, ready to be filled with ganache.

BLU BOY'S GANACHE-FILLED CHOCOLATES WITH PRETTY PAINTED SHELLS ARE SO STRIKING — HOW ARE THOSE MADE?

Those are hand-painted with colored cocoa butter (by chocolatier and Blu Boy owner David Fletcher). He'll take a little paintbrush and brush the insides of the molds. That'll dry, and then he'll pour chocolate on top of that (to create the top of the shell). Then he'll pipe in the ganache, then pour more chocolate to seal them. 

The hand-painted chocolates take about three days to make. Hand painting the chocolate shells is one day, then filling them is another day, and then sealing them off is another day. You can't really rush that. It just takes three days to do. 

SAY IT IS SOMEONE'S FIRST VISIT TO BLU BOY. WHAT SHOULD THEY KNOW WHEN THEY WALK IN?

I describe this place as the gem of the from-scratch bakery. We don't use any mixes. All of our chocolates are made here. All the pastries are made here. The ice cream is made here. Everything we sell, we put a lot of love and pride into.

We get all of our honey from Hunter's Honey in Martinsville. We get eggs from Poplar Ridge Farm, and we get those hand delivered every week. And with our coffee, we partnered with Brown County Coffee Roasters for a special Blu Boy espresso blend that we use for all of our espresso beverages. 

Fleur de sel caramels

Honey ice cream sandwich.

IF SOMEONE WANTS TO TRY JUST ONE BLU BOY CHOCOLATE — JUST ONE — WHAT WOULD YOU RECOMMEND?

Fleur de sel caramel. It's hands down the most popular things we sell, and really encapsulates what we do here. These are dipped in chocolate individually and salted individually. Each little piece of chocolate is done singularly. It's not mass produced or anything you can rush through, and that's what we're all about: taking our time and making a really great product.

OK, LET'S MOVE ON TO DESSERTS. WHICH ONE IS A MUST-TRY?

An ice cream sandwich with our honey ice cream — you can't go wrong with that. Our chocolate chip cookies are rolled in cinnamon sugar, and it pairs nicely with honey ice cream. The honey ice cream in and of itself is unique. It's not a vanilla base with honey flavor, it's just honey ice cream.

Dani Doyle of Blu Boy.

A build-your-own box of chocolates.

WHAT'S YOUR FAVORITE BLU BOY CHOCOLATE?

Over Valentine's Day we'll do a chocolate called Love's True Kiss, which is aleppo pepper. Unlike like our ancho chile chocolate which we have on a regular basis (and doesn't have too much heat), this one is actually spicy, like really spicy. I think that's such a unique experience because when most people have chocolate they think of this smooth, sweet, mellow chocolate experience and Love's True Kiss just blows that out of the water. It's spicy but very, very good.

WHEN YOU WERE YOUNGER, DID YOU EVER PICK A PIECE OF CHOCOLATE OUT OF A VARIETY BOX, TAKE A BITE AND FIND SOME GROSS GOO INSIDE? WASN'T THAT JUST THE WORST?

I am super allergic to peanut butter, so I never had the random chocolate thing happen because ... I couldn't. I was super paranoid. But, we do include a description of the chocolates with our boxes. 

CRAFTPACK, VOL.7

Links that make you go Hmmm.

This is so great: what men vs. women Tweet when they drink. #girlsnight

Would you drink this cocktail that is nearly half bitters?

Really amazing fall cocktail recipes to try this week: Yellow Jacket with cinnamon-honey syrup. Warm spiked apple cider, a classic. And Spice Island, with a dusting of fresh nutmeg.

On a branding note, did you see that Jeni's ice cream pints got a makeover?