Cardinal Spirits

Cardinal Spirits is a craft distillery with a cocktail bar and kitchen located in beautiful Bloomington, Indiana. We distill creative, award-winning spirits using the highest quality ingredients, and we source local ingredients whenever possible. All parts of the distilling process — from fermentation to mashing to aging to bottling — happen on-site. We offer distillery tours, and in our tasting room, you can sample a flight of spirits, order one-of-a-kind cocktails made with our spirits, eat dinner 7 days a week and weekend brunch, and buy bottles of our spirits to take home. Our spirits are available in 10 states and Washington D.C.

A Craft Spirits Distillery, Bar & Restaurant
The Original Internet

We started Cardinal Spirits to increase connections between people. Spirits make it easier to talk to strangers, friends, and family alike. Discussing things over a drink is usually a great way to have difficult conversations, and to celebrate big moments in life. To increase connections between people, you have to increase the ease of social communication. Spirits: the original Internet.

Made by Hand from Scratch

We grew up after the bulk of manufacturing jobs had already left our country. Over the past few decades, we have all become less and less active with our hands. Instead, we focused on comfort, commercialism, and convenience. This is not sustainable. The word manufacture is from the Latin “manu factum”: made by hand. That’s what we were craving – being able to hold something in our hands and say “I made this from scratch, and it’s amazing”.

Cardinal Spirits Products

• Save

Bourbon – This is Bloomington’s first bourbon and it’s distinctly Indiana. It’s made with 4 grains from Indiana farmers. The mash bill is made from 60% Yellow corn – Glick Seed, Columbus, IN, 20% Malted 6-row barley – Sugar Creek, Lebanon, IN, 10% Rye – Sugar Creek, Lebanon, IN and 10% Wheat – Glick Seed, Columbus, IN.

It was aged in a new American Oak barrel. The important thing to note is that we do not have any bourbon that is older than our distillery. Some distilleries choose to buy bourbon from elsewhere and simply bottle it, and that’s how they get away with selling a spirit that’s older than they are. But we don’t buy any of our spirits. It’s all fermented, mashed, distilled and bottled on site at Cardinal Spirits. Learn more.

Vodka – Cardinal Spirits Vodka is fermented and distilled on site in Bloomington, Indiana from white grapes. This is not your average tasteless, odorless vodka. It has character by design. A very light entry, a full rich body, and a bright floral finish. We distill to 190.5° proof rather than blowing all of the flavor out at 192°, leaving some of the grape aroma and flavor in the spirit before its final charcoal filtering. It’s some of the best vodka around, and many people have told us it’s the only vodka they’ll drink straight. Learn more.

Terra Botanical Gin – This is a beautiful, botanical Indiana gin with unexpected spices from everywhere. Zuta, an unusual mint from Israel, is the star of the botanical blend, and it lends floral, herbaceous, pine and resin character; Indonesian berries add grapefruit bitterness. It’s wonderfully layered. Think: woodsy state parks, secret streams, treasured hiking trails. Wilderness in a bottle. Learn more.

Spiced Rum Lake House – Cardinal Spirits Tiki Rum was awarded a well-deserved 92 points and a “Best Buy” rating by Wine Enthusiast magazine. Our Lake House Spiced Rum is made from this delicious base rum, and we think elevates the Tiki Rum to new flavor dimensions. Lake House Spiced Rum is made in small batches from natural, whole botanical ingredients like orange peel, vanilla and cardamom — no flavoring extracts, no coloring. It is fermented and distilled from cane juice, light molasses, sweet hefeweizen yeast and a yeast found on wild sugarcane. It’s pleasantly sweet, with a warming, earthy spice. Learn more.

Standard Dry Gin – Flavorful and juniper-forward for people who love classic gin, this is a direct descendent of the first gins ever created in Salerno in the 1100s, where the monks discovered that distilling wine with juniper berries created a powerful (and tasty) medicine. In our version, aromatic juniper is balanced with citrus, spicy Coriander, and earthy Angelica. All organic botanicals include crushed Juniper berries, coriander seeds, fresh navel orange zest, fresh lemon zest, Angelica root, and cinnamon sticks. Learn more.

Bramble – Bramble is made with loads of black raspberries, one of the few fruits native to Indiana. We add a handful of dried hibiscus to add tartness and a beautiful red hue. Then it’s balanced out with a touch of agave nectar to provide just the right amount of sweetness. It goes great with so many flavors, from green tea to ginger, and it plays well with gin and our coffee liqueur, too. The best part is that you don’t need a ton of ingredients to make cocktails with it. Learn more.

Nocino Liqueur – This is an Indiana Green Walnut Amaro liqueur that is enjoyed as a digestif or mixed into cocktails. We created this walnut spirit using a traditional European method, harvesting the walnuts while they were still green in mid-summer and steeping them in our grape vodka along with star anise, vanilla beans, allspice berries, and fresh orange peel. We are the only distiller in Indiana that produces Nocino, and one of just a handful of craft distilleries in the country to do so. Learn more.

Songbird Craft Coffee Liqueur – It tastes like coffee but better! Our craft coffee liqueur has plenty of coffee in it, but also has all the complementary flavors you get in a fancy coffee drink. Notes of caramel, vanilla, and chocolate balance out the coffee. We make our Songbird Craft Coffee liqueur using locally roasted coffee beans from Hopscotch, right down the street from the distillery. They cart the beans down the B-Line to us in a little red wagon! Learn more.

Tiki Rum – Cardinal Spirits Tiki Rum has been awarded a well-deserved 92 points and a “Best Buy” rating by Wine Enthusiast magazine in its influential buying guide for spirits, wine and beer. The score makes Tiki Rum one of the top-rated craft rums on the market. Tiki Rum is a light rum with a smooth and fruity profile that is wonderful in a range of drinks, from classic tropical ones to modern cocktails. The way Cardinal Spirits ferments and distills this spirit in small batches leads to one intriguing rum, and Wine Enthusiast agreed. Learn more.

Flora Liqueur – A perfect balance of flowers and berry. Flora is made with fresh organic raspberries, elderflower, jasmine, and hibiscus. It is sweetened with agave nectar to provide just the right amount of sweetness. It’s light and fresh, floral and sweet — in a word, lovely. We tested several combos of botanicals before landing on this balanced, beautiful nectar, made with hibiscus, jasmine blossoms, fresh raspberries and elderflower. Learn more.

Creekbend Brandy – Our vintage 2015 brandy is a one-of-a-kind collaboration between Cardinal Spirits and Oliver Winery. Crafted entirely from Catawba grapes grown at Oliver Winery’s Creekbend Vineyard and harvested at prime ripeness, then distilled and aged in toasted oak barrels at Cardinal Spirits. Catawba grapes are the prize pick of the vineyard in our part of the Midwest. And this is how we celebrate them: by distilling a world-class brandy that can be enjoyed neat or in cocktails. Learn more.

Barley McBarleyface Single Malt Spirit – An un-aged single-malt from 100 percent Indiana-malted barley sourced from Sugar Creek Malt Co. in Lebanon, Indiana. This malt is cooked, fermented and distilled on-site at the distillery, resulting in one of the most easy-drinking and flavorful un-aged whiskeys we’ve ever tasted. Learn more.

Cardinal Mule Cans – Mule Cans are refreshing, ready-to-drink canned cocktails – going where cocktails have never gone before! Our well-made, easy-drinking cocktails come in two varieties, both riffs on Moscow Mules. Bramble Mule is made with vodka, real raspberry juice, hibiscus, and ginger, a juicy, fruity take. The Maui Mule is made with vodka, passion fruit juice, and ginger, and has a spicy tiki twist. Learn more.

Call Us Now at 812-202-6789
to Schedule a Distillery Tour and Tasting!