The key differences between liquor and liqueur

Many newbie bartenders and consumers get the words “liquor” and “liqueur” confusing, if not outright similar. In this blog, craft spirits connoisseur Adam Quirk of Cardinal Spirits explains the key differences between the two.

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First off, liqueurs refer to beverages that have flavorings or are based on flavored or distilled spirits. Liqueurs are generally fragrant, come in vibrant colors, and have an alcohol content of between 25 and 55 degrees. While these concoctions are often mixed with fruits and herbs, some are made with cocoa, coffee, and other foods. Liqueurs are correctly consumed on small glasses at room temperature or while slightly cold.

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Liquor or spirits, on the other hand, are a product of the chemical process known as distillation. The process entails heating a beverage comprised of water and alcohol to over 78.3 but below 100 degrees to prevent the mixed-in water from boiling. The alcohol then gets evaporated, separating from the original liquid and re-condensed to make for a stronger drink. Spirits usually have between 40 and 65 degrees of alcohol content.

Liquors are prepared from foods that contain natural sugars such as agave and sugar cane. Some of the most common ones are vodka, whisky, tequila, and rum. Again, liquors are created via distillation, following the process of fermentation similar to how beer or wine is made. The resulting distilled spirit—which will become a liqueur when added flavorings to—is then put into a still, with the alcohol extracted in often-high concentrations, aged, re-distilled, or watered down to the so-called “bottle strength.”

Adam Quirk is the co-founder of Cardinal Spirits, a craft spirits distillery based in Bloomington, Indiana. More on Mr. Quirk and his distillery here.

How to make the Valencia-based Cable Car cocktail

The Cable Car cocktail, with its concoction of spiced rum, triple sec, lemon, and simple syrup, is truly a modern San Francisco classic. Craft distillery expert Adam Quirk says that it is also an excellent cocktail to try out using Valencia, Cardinal Spirits’ newest spirit.

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Valencia is a great, natural triple sec for use in cocktailing. Cardinal Spirits make it by using both dried and fresh orange peels. This is to capture the sweet, bitter, and fragrant character of citrus.

Make good use of your newly acquired Valencia spirit. Hailing from the Starlight Room in San Francisco, it is bright and always in season. It’s as good a cocktail on the coldest days of January as it is these first days of June summer. Cardinal Spirits says that the combination of Valencia with its Lake House Spiced Rum completes the fine concoction.

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To make this unique Cardinal Spirits Cable Car cocktail, you’d need 1/5 ounces of Lake House Spiced Rum, an ounce of Valencia Triple Sec, an ounce of lemon juice, ½ ounce simple syrup, and, for garnishing, a lemon twist. Setting aside the garnish, mix all the ingredients in a shaker filled with ice. Shake well, double strain into a coupe glass, then add the lemon twist. And voila, it’s time to enjoy your Cardinal Spirits take on the Cable Car, Adam Quirk adds.

Adam Quirk is the co-founder of Cardinal Spirits, a craft spirits distillery based in Bloomington, Indiana. More on Adam and his distillery here.

The enchanting Berry Brambler cocktail

Before getting to the Berry Brambler cocktail recipe, Adam Quirk would like to introduce the Bramble from Cardinal Spirits. It is a flavorful concoction of blackberries, dried hibiscus, and agave nectar. It is a staple for summer drinks and is perfect with a countless variety of drinks such as green tea, ginger, gin, and coffee liqueur.

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It is also an integral part of the Berry Brambler cocktail, which the bartenders in Cardinal Spirits have perfected. It may look a bit complicated to mix, but rest assured, it’s as simple as tying one’s shoes.

For starters, there are only two spirits needed to come up with the cocktail – the Bramble (which is essentially a black raspberry vodka, and the Songbird Craft Coffee Liqueur. Anyone can add a dash of bitters if they want to. Not only does the Berry Bramble cocktail work well as an after-meals drink, it can stand on its own when it needs to.

Here are the ingredients:

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

Take a shaker and put all these ingredients in before adding ice. Shake it vigorously. Strain into a coupe glass. Enjoy.

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Do you have recipes you want to share with Adam Quirk? Feel free to leave it in the comments section below.

Adam Quirk sets his passion toward making his business, Cardinal Spirits, better. For more discussion on alcoholic beverages, check out this blog.

Alcohol Info: The difference between wines and spirits

Alcohol is one of the most widely consumed beverages in the world for centuries. Today, there are several types of alcoholic drinks people can choose from. There’s the wide selection of wines, as well as spirits. And of course, it’s better to know more about what your drinking. According to Cardinal Spirits co-founder Adam Quirk, one of the most basic alcohol information beginner alcohol enthusiasts want to know is the difference between wines and spirits. Even though wines and spirits come from the same alcoholic family, there are distinct features that separate the two.

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Wine has been around for thousands of years. The process may have changed in modern times, but the basic requirements for making them remain the same. Wine is made by crushing fruits to extract their juices which are then fermented in barrels with yeast. Currently, wines fall into three basic types which are white wine, red wine, and rosé.

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Spirits, on the other hand, come from distilling liquid mash of ingredients such as grains and other products, heating the mixture in a still. Once the mixture is cooled, alcohol can then be collected. Spirits, or hard liquor as others call them, include vodka, gin, whiskey, bourbon, and many other distilled alcoholic drinks.

Besides taste, the biggest differentiator between spirits and wine is the alcohol content. Wines usually have an alcohol content of 9% – 12% while spirits usually have 40% or more. While a lot of wine taste better with age, some spirits taste better with age as well. According to Adam Quirk, alcohol can be fun to learn and understand. This is why a lot of individuals get into home breweries to try making their own concoctions.

Adam Quirk produces premium whiskey, gin, vodka, rum, and liqueurs using local ingredients through a craft distillery opening in Bloomington, IN. For similar reads, visit this website.

Health benefits of drinking beer

Among the many alcoholic beverages out there, beer often gets a bad rap for being an unhealthy drink. People say that it’s bad for the liver or that you’ll eventually get a beer gut and put on weight. It’s just the excess drinking that can lead to unhealthy situations. If you took dozens of medication daily, that too can lead to liver problems eventually. Several studies have shown that beer, like red wine, have health benefits as well. According to brewing enthusiast Adam Quirk, beer offers more than just relief after a long day’s work. Here are some of the many health benefits of drinking beer.

Beer is actually nutritious

Setting aside the joke that beer is just salad in liquid form because it’s made of grain and hops, beer actually has a lot of nutrients in its content. It’s high in protein, vitamin B, and is rich in antioxidants as well. And unlike wine, beer also has iron, calcium, phosphates, and fiber.

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Beer helps you avoid heart attacks

Studies have shown that drinking beer moderately can lead to lowered risk of heart diseases such as strokes or cardiac arrest. By drinking beer, you lower your chances of contracting cardiovascular diseases by up to 35%.

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Beer can lower your bad cholesterol levels

Because of the soluble fiber found in beer, drinking it can promote a healthier blood-sugar and blood-cholesterol levels. According to Adam Quirk, reducing the production of LDL or bad cholesterol can also lead to better blood circulation.

Adam Quirk is the co-founder of Cardinal Spirits, a craft distillery opening in Bloomington, IN, that produces premium whiskey, gin, vodka, rum, and liqueurs using local ingredients. For similar reads, visit this page.

The best long island iced tea recipe you’ll ever make

Long Island Iced tea is a classic cocktail selection that comprises of four different spirits, making it a strong drink that everyone likes to enjoy. What makes it strong is the combination of alcohol that sums up to four ounces against less than half of the mixer amount. It’s refreshing and definitely packs a punch. Here’s the best long island recipe you can whip up for your next cocktail party.

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What you’ll need. You’ll need ¾ ounces of gin, white rum, silver tequila, vodka, triple sec, simple syrup, fresh lemon juice, your choice of cola to top everything off. Cardinal Spirits’ vodka is distilled in Bloomington, Indiana from white grapes, making it a great choice for this cocktail.

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Mix it up. Add all the ingredients in a mixer, shaking it with crushed ice for a cooling effect. Pour into a Collins glass and top the drink with cola. Stir the mix briefly once you’ve put the cola in it.

Serve and enjoy. You can either serve your Long Island Iced Tea as it is or place a playful paper or metal straw so your guests can enjoy the drink. Place a lemon wedge on the glass to add zest and a tangy flavor. If you wish, you can add a variety of flavor to the tea by mixing in different kinds of tea.

Adam Quirk is a former operative at a tech startup and the co-founder of Cardinal Spirits, a craft distillery opening in Bloomington, IN, that produces premium whiskey, gin, vodka, rum, and liqueurs using local ingredients. The company brought its production facilities to downtown Bloomington, which brought in great jobs and support to the local community. For more articles like this, visit this page.

The 24-Carrot Gold Punch, a treasure among cocktails

The carrot is an underrated vegetable. Some of the best dishes and drinks are made with carrots as the main ingredient, such as carrot cakes and carrot juices. To add to this already scrumptious and healthy list, the bartenders in Cardinal Spirits have come up with the 24-Carrot Gold Punch.

Image source: cardinalspirits.com

Image source: cardinalspirits.com

This amazing cocktail is based on carrots and the Standard Dry Gin, but also makes use of pineapples, lemons, and ginger beer. It’s bright, a bit fizzy, and oh-so-refreshing. While some people think this is best enjoyed during the hotter months, it’s still a great beverage to serve to friends during fall and winter get-togethers.

Here are the ingredients needed to make 12 servings.

1 bottle (750ml) of Cardinal Spirits Standard Dry Gin
25 ounces carrot juice
19 ounces pineapple juice
12.5 ounces fresh-squeezed lemon juice
24 ounces ginger beer, more or less to taste (about 2 single-serve bottles)
Pineapple slices, for garnish

Gather the gin, juices, and ginger beer and pour them into a punch bowl. Add either one very large ice cube or a number of huge ice cubes. Garnish the whole thing with pineapple slices. Once the punch is chilled, people can drink the beverage with or without ice.

Adam Quirk is the co-founder of Cardinal Spirits. For more cocktail recipes, visit this blog.

Whisky or whiskey: Which is it, really?

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Let’s establish first that in any drink, it’s the taste that’s more important than any semantic issue, such as spelling.  Having said that, any discussion between “whiskey” and “whisky” can, indeed, get contentious.

In any case, both spellings are correct.  But before we further explain why that is so, let’s first look at the etymology of the word.  “Whisky” actually comes from the Gaelic word “usquebaugh,” which means “water of life.”  The term has been used for centuries to refer to a variety of spirits.   In Ireland, the word is spelled with an “e,” while Scotland prefers not to include that letter and simply writes it down as “whisky.”

We can trace the subtle difference from the two Gaelic countries’ history of spirit production.  During the 1880s, many experts say that Irish producers delivered a much superior whisky than the Scots, and altering the spelling allowed the Irish to differentiate theirs.  Nowadays, of course, both countries produce some of the best whiskeys in the world.

The current spelling “whiskey” refers to those made in Ireland and the United States, while “whisky” is the preferred spelling for those that come from Scotland, Canada, Japan, and certain other countries.  Historians believe that the adoption of “whiskey” in the U.S. is due to the high number of Irish immigrants that established distilleries during the early days of the country.  Still, in legal terms, the more acceptable spelling is “whisky.”

Adam Quirk is the co-founder of Cardinal Spirits, a craft spirits distillery based in Bloomington, Indiana.  He is also a former operative at a tech startup.  For more on Adam and his business, go to this blog.

Going nuts over these Nocino recipes

Image source: cardinalspirits.com

Image source: cardinalspirits.com

One of the many mouthwatering gifts Italy has gifted the world is Nocino, a liquor made from unripe green walnuts. While it already tastes good on its own, it can be enjoyed in several other ways, such as the following recipes:

Nocino Sour Cocktail

Perfect for the fall and winter seasons, a Nocino Sour Cocktail can be concocted with just five ingredients, namely Nocino (1.5 ounces), lemon juice (0.75 ounce), demerara syrup (0.5 ounce), sweet vermouth (0.25 ounce), and Angostura bitters (3 dashes). After mixing them together and shaking them with ice, strain the mixture and pour into a glass.

Nocino Eggnog

A holiday favorite, this cocktail requires just two ingredients: Nocino and eggnog. For every two parts of eggnog, one part of Nocino is needed. Those looking to make a single-serve cocktail may stir together 3 ounces of eggnog and 1.5 ounces of Nocino. It is best drank on the rocks and topped with a small amount of cinnamon or espresso powder.

Walnut Manhattan Cocktail

Thanksgiving is coming up, and Walnut Manhattan Cocktail makes for a great digestif, or alcoholic beverage sipped after a meal. To create the cocktail, gently stir the following ingredients: 1.5 ounces of White Oak Whiskey, 0.75 ounce of Nocino, 0.5 ounce of sweet vermouth, and a dash of bitters.

Adam Quirk is the co-founder of Cardinal Spirits, a craft spirits distillery based in Bloomington, Indiana. To see more cocktail recipes, visit this website.

The Rabble Rouser: Gin, blackberries, and a bit of magic

One can do a lot with the Cardinal Spirits Standard Dry Gin.  One of the most fun concoctions is the Rabble Rouser, because not only can it be a magical cocktail for any occasion, but its preparation allows people to experiment with zero chance of failure.  Typically, people use blackberries and sage when mixing this, but some folks have tried combinations such as raspberries and mint and strawberries and basil.  The combinations alone are enough to excite even the pickiest of gin drinkers.

Image source: cardinalspirits.com

Image source: cardinalspirits.com

Add to that the greatness of the Cardinal Spirits Standard Dry Gin, and there’s everything to look forward to.

Here are the ingredients.

• 5 ounces Cardinal Spirits Standard Dry Gin
• 75 ounce fresh lemon juice
• 75 ounce simple syrup
• 3 blackberries, plus one more for garnish
• 2 sage leaves, plus one more for garnish

First, mix the simple syrup, blackberries, and sage in a shaker, before adding gin and lemon juice.  Finish the mixture with ice.  Shake the shaker well and double strain the cocktail into a small rocks glass that’s filled with ice.

If desired, one can garnish the cocktail with blackberries and sage leaves.  Enjoy!

Adam Quirk is the co-founder of Cardinal Spirits.  For more cocktail recipes, visit this blog.