1. In A Nutshell
Just like craft breweries in the early 1980’s, there is a movement of craft distilleries opening in America, and a desire for locally produced food and drink in general.
Cardinal Spirits brought the production of high quality spirits to downtown Bloomington, where we create great jobs and support our community.
The founders of Cardinal Spirits started the company because of a shared passion for distilled spirits and American manufacturing. They also wanted to create meaningful employment for themselves and others – a place that values entrepreneurial thinking and encourages creativity at every level.
We distill premium 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.
At the time of publishing, our spirits are distributed in eleven states and our nation’s capital: Indiana, Kentucky, Tennessee, Illinois, Michigan, Ohio, New York, Massachusetts, Connecticut, Maryland, Rhode Island, New Jersey and D.C.
2. What’s in a name?
The Cardinal is our state bird, but also the state bird of seven other states.
We like it because it’s a hardass. It sticks around all winter, when all the other songbirds fly south.
The triangle in our labels represents the crest of the cardinal.
The logo itself is a silhouette of the wooden cardinal statue sitting on a back bar shelf in the tasting room – a wood carving from the 1940s.
3. Timeline
BCE – 2010
Adam Quirk is a teenager in Indiana making bootleg wine in his attic. He studies sociology at Ball State University and leaves to work in the early world of web design and video. He moves to New York and starts a small company that helps big companies cultivate a web presence.
Jeff Wuslich is a teenager in Indiana campaigning for student government. He studies sociology in college and then begins working for his alma mater Indiana University. He starts a small company fundraising for nonprofits and political candidates.
Jeff Wuslich judges for the first time at the American Distillers Institute Craft Spirits Judging. Meanwhile, Adam is living in New York City when Breukelen Distilling and Six-Point Beer open in Brooklyn. Adam dreams of leaving his web-job to start a Bierschnapps distillery.
Adam moves to Bloomington and meets Jeff. They realize they share a dream of opening a craft distillery. They begin marrying their individual visions into one. Cardinal Spirits is born.
2013
The Indiana legislature passes an amendment allowing artisan distilleries to open tasting rooms and sell carry-out bottles. The new law opens up new possibilities for Cardinal Spirits and decidedly focuses our early development. If not for this piece of legislation, we would not have the amazing bar program, service staff, and full kitchen we have today. Who knows if Tiki Rum would have been thought of!
Adam, Jason, Jeff, and Rick write and pitch their business plan to private investors and banks (seven banks said no, the 8th said yes.) They also raise $850,000 through an online crowdfunding marketplace—one of the first uses ever of equity crowdfunding for private companies. A finance reporter from CNBC wrote about it in a Food & Beverage article “Forget happy hour: How to own your own distillery. ”
We acquire our building, 922 S Morton Street, and begin its initial renovation. The building had previously operated as an office and storehouse for a church ministry that sold furniture to international students – and before that was a metal roofing factory.
2014
Cardinal Spirits undergoes major construction projects. We design and build out the space. We choose and install all of our equipment. We also develop our brand, recipe list, and product offerings.
On December 5th, Repeal Day, we operate our still for the first time. Batch 1 is memorialized in a mini barrel displayed on the bar wall.
2015
We’re in business! We begin distributing in Indiana via Carrol Wine & Spirits. Big Red orders 275 cases of our vodka.
In February we host our Grand Opening. We offer vodka cocktails, pickled veggies and eggs, charcuterie and cheese boards, and spiked sweets from BluBoy and the Chocolate Moose.
We begin adding spirits to our lineup in rapid-fire succession—Spring: American Gin releases in April and our Songbird Coffee Liqueur premiers with the opening of our outdoor patio in May. Summer: Standard Dry Gin and Flora release a week apart in June, Pride label Vodka and Tiki Rum premier in July, and Bramble bursts forth in August. Fall/Winter: Nocino rounds out the year in November.
Our Vodka gets recognition at the 2015 MicroLiquors Spirits Awards, winning Triple Gold – Best in Show.
2016
This year brings another big change from the Indiana Legislature. Thanks to the lobbying and bill-writing efforts of Jeff Wuslich, Indiana allows Sunday carryout liquor sales from artisan distilleries. Sunday liquor sales had been outlawed in Indiana for nearly a century. The first bottle of hard alcohol sold on a Sunday since prohibition was here.
We begin distribution in Kentucky, kicking off with a launch party in Louisville with Good Folks Coffee Roasters. Good Folks provides the coffee beans for our Kentucky-distributed Songbird Coffee Liqueur blend.
The flock welcomes Robyn Wirkerman as our new general manager!
On a crisp Friday in October, we release Bloomington’s first bourbon, our single barrel bourbon! We sell out of carryout bottles in two hours. The bar’s stock depletes by the end of the weekend.
We release four more spirits this year—Lake House Spiced Rum, a custom Spiced Pineapple Tiki Rum for C3 Bar, Black Bear Bierschnaps, and Terra Gin. The development of Terra was a collaboration with Lior Lev Sercarz, a master spice blender in New York City.
2017
In March, Lior Sev Sercarz visits Cardinal Spirits to lead spice blending workshops with members of our Bloomington culinary community. The event, named Spicecamp, inaugurates our annual visitor series of influential makers from the worlds of food, drink, and distilling.
Terra Gin garners heaps of national attention this year, most notably from The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal.
In March, Lior Sev Sercarz visits us to lead a spice blending workshop with members of our Bloomington culinary community. The event, named Spicecamp, inaugurates our annual visitor series of influential makers from the worlds of food, drink, and distilling.
Cardinal Spirits also spreads its wings and flies into the Chicago, Michigan, Tennessee, and New York markets. Our Terra Gin is included in a feature cocktail at the Three Michelin Star rated restaurant Le Bernardin in New York.
2018
In 2018 we completed a massive bottling run for Big Red Liquors. We worked around the clock and to distill and bottle more booze in a just few weeks than we had previously completed in several months. This was the beginning of our contract bottling business, which has continued to grow significantly throughout 2018.
We were very excited to begin distributing through RNDC after parting ways with Carrol Wine and Spirits in February.
We entered six new states and our nation’s capital—Massachusetts, Connecticut, Maryland, Rhode Island, New Jersey, Wisconsin and D.C.!
4. Exciting Firsts
[Bulleted by award emojis–trophy, star, or medal]
? Bloomington’s first distillery
? Bloomington’s first Bourbon
? Indiana’s first bottle of hard alcohol sold on a Sunday
? Local culinary community’s first visitor series, with Lior Sev Sercarz’s Spice Camp
? Indiana’s first bottle of Pride Vodka dedicated to raising awareness and financial support for local LGBTQ+ rights
