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.

Bye Bye Birdie cocktail recipe

What are you drinking on NYE? At the distillery, we'll be toasting to 2017 with Bye Bye Birdie, a prosecco drink that's kissed with our Standard Dry Gin, cranberry syrup and lime juice. It's easy to serve to a crowd, making it perfect for your NYE bash, too. 

BYE BYE BIRDIE

By Alyvia Cain of Cardinal Spirits

Makes 1 cocktail

3/4 ounce fresh lime juice
3/4 ounce Cardinal Spirits Standard Dry Gin
1/4 ounce cranberry syrup (recipe follows)
Prosecco or other sparkling white wine
Orange peel
Lime wheel, for garnish

In a coupe, combine the lime juice, gin and cranberry syrup. Top with prosecco. Express the oils of an orange peel into the drink by holding a piece of peel, peel-side down, over the cocktail and squeezing it gently. Garnish with a lime wheel. 

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.

To make this drink for a crowd: It's easy to make this cocktail for a group, and you can make it ahead of time. Scale up the ingredients based on the number of servings you need. Combine the lime juice, gin and cranberry syrup in a pitcher, then divide among the glasses. Top each glass with prosecco and garnish with lime wheels. When making the cocktail ahead, put the pitcher in the fridge to chill, and when it's go-time, divide among the glasses, top with prosecco and garnish with lime.

La Befana cocktail recipe

We have Santa Claus. Italians have La Befana, a witchy-looking old woman with a big heart who visits homes on the night of Jan. 5 to fill children's shoes with candy and small gifts (or coal, if they've been little monsters).

This light, fizzy cocktail recipe is an ode to her holiday spirit — you make it by infusing our Flora with a bit of saffron, then combining the infused Flora with sparkling lemon soda. It feels festive and special — give this little toast when you drink it:

La Befana vien di notte
Con le scarpe tutte rotte
Col vestito alla romana
Viva, Viva La Befana!

(The Befana comes by night
With her shoes all tattered and torn
She comes dressed in the Roman way
Long live the Befana!)

 

LA BEFANA

By Alex Utter of Cardinal Spirits

Makes 1 cocktail

1.5 ounces Songbird Flora infused with saffron (instructions follow)
San Pellegrino Limonata (sparkling lemon soda), to tasteLemon wheel, for garnish

Fill a Collins glass with ice, then add Flora. Fill the rest of the way with Limonata, then garnish with a lemon wheel.

To infuse Songbird Flora with saffron: Add a pinch or two of saffron threads to a bottle of Flora and let sit for 2-3 days. Adjust amount of saffron as you see fit, but it shouldn't take much! The color of the Flora should take on a yellowish-orange tint. Strain out the saffron using a coffee filter or fine mesh strainer before using.

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.

Bugs & Lola cocktail recipe

A wintery gin cocktail that cleverly, deliciously, unexpectedly sneaks carrots into your diet? Plus maple syrup and molasses bitters? Sign us up.

BUGS & LOLA

By Alex Utter of Cardinal Spirits

Makes 1 cocktail

1.5 ounces Cardinal Spirits Standard Dry Gin
3⁄4 ounce lemon juice
3⁄4 ounce carrot juice
1⁄2 ounce real maple syrup
2 dashes molasses bitters (recommended: Fee Bros.)
Orange peel

Add all ingredients except orange peel to a shaker tin and shake with ice for 15 seconds. Double strain into a chilled coupe glass. Express the oils from an orange peel by gently squeezing the peel over the cocktail, letting the oil mist over the drink. Discard the peel.

Tom Collins cocktail recipe

The story of how the Tom Collins got its name is pretty widely disputed, but one thing definitely isn't: this drink is a classic for a reason. It's simple and delicious, especially with our Terra Botanical Gin. 

Terra adds a bit of herbal flavor to this fizzy, lemony cocktail. Like we've said before, this gin doesn't take much dressing-up to be great, and this classic cocktail is the perfect example. A Tom Collins with Terra is light and refreshing, tart and sweet. Ease your way into the colder seasons with this twist on a classic.

TOM COLLINS
Makes one cocktail

1.5 ounces Cardinal Spirits Terra Botanical Gin
3/4 ounce fresh lemon juice
1/2 ounce simple syrup
Club soda
Lemon wedge and brandied cherry to garnish

Add gin, lemon juice, simple syrup and ice to a cocktail shaker and shake thoroughly. Strain into a Collins glass filled with ice and top with club soda. Garnish with lemon and cherry.

Salty Dog cocktail recipe

Here's the amazing thing about our Terra Botanical Gin: you don't need to add much else to it to make a great cocktail. This a gin that you definitely want to taste in a drink, not cover up.

You need just two ingredients — okay, three if you count the salted rim — to make this Salty Dog. It is a classic cocktail that really lets our gin shine. The lovely botanicals in Terra play well with fresh citrus juices, especially the grapefruit in this drink.

SALTY DOG

Makes 1 cocktail

1.5 ounces Cardinal Spirits Terra Botanical Gin
3 ounces fresh grapefruit juice, to taste
Coarse salt

Salt the rim of a large rocks glass. Fill the glass with ice, then add the gin, then add the grapefruit juice. Stir gently if desired. 

Sage Gimlet cocktail recipe

What kind of cocktail do you make with a gin that you really love? Our go-to is a gimlet, which, when cheered on with a little fresh lime juice and simple syrup, lets a great gin shine.

Our Terra Botanical Gin is a knockout on its own, so you don't need much else to spin it into a fantastic cocktail. We happen to love it in a gimlet, and we know you will, too.

For this gin, we collaborated with Lior Lev Sercarz of the legendary La Boîte spice shop in NYC. Lior created the custom spice blend that gives Terra its woodsy, wild, fresh profile. It is wilderness in a bottle.

The best way to drink Terra is to dress it up minimally, with fresh lime and simple syrup — and a bit of sage, which bounces off Terra's other botanicals so beautifully. 

SAGE GIMLET

Makes 1 cocktail

2 ounces Cardinal Spirits Terra Botanical Gin
.75 ounce fresh lime juice
.75 ounce simple syrup
3-4 sage leaves, plus another sprig for garnish

Add the gin, lime juice, simple syrup and 3-4 sage leaves to a shaker, then add ice. Shake well, then strain into a coupe glass. Garnish with a sprig of sage. 
 

Bramble Screwdriver cocktail recipe

Presenting the perfect day drink — the Bramble Screwdriver.

Perfect. Really. How can we be so sure?

Well, we've had our fair share of these in broad daylight. 

But also: It has just two ingredients (it barely needs a recipe, really) and it's incredibly easy-drinking. And, it's familiar — this is a twist on a Screwdriver, which is simply vodka and OJ —but swapping regular vodka for our flavorful Bramble vodka makes it feel like more of a cocktail, without any of the labor. 

Bramble is our black raspberry-hibiscus vodka — it adds a bright, lush flavor to cocktails, and it just happens to be dynamite with OJ. (Did you know that Wine Enthusiast just awarded our Bramble 92 points?)

Brunch, tailgates, Saturdays on the lake ... this is your drink. 

BRAMBLE SCREWDRIVER

Makes 1 cocktail

6 ounces orange juice
1.5 ounces Cardinal Spirits Bramble

Fill a mason jar or Collins glass with ice, then add orange juice. Gently pour in the Bramble, letting it float on top for a layered look. Garnish with a orange wedge, and give it a stir before sipping.

One more thing: Don't skimp on the quality of OJ. At the distillery, we make Bramble Screwdrivers with fresh-squeezed OJ, which will change your life. That's not always convenient at home, though. Pick a better-quality bottled OJ, or if your grocery store fresh-squeezes and bottles OJ, go with that!