Among the many gems in Indiana’s Monroe County is a little distillery called Cardinal Spirits. Founded in 2015, the spirit-makers craft vodkas, gins, rums, liqueurs, and canned cocktails, and distributes them across 12 states and Washington, D.C. This year, the Bloomington distillery took top honors for the state in the 2021 Heartland Whiskey Competition with their Straight Rye Whiskey and the Indiana Corn Marketing Council was proud to be the sponsoring organization for the biennial event.
“There’s no doubt that Indiana corn gives our spirits memorable character, sip after sip, whether it’s the flavorful star of a bourbon or the versatile base for a gin,” said Cardinal Spirits co-founder Jeff Wuslich. “We search far and wide for the best ingredients to make our spirits, and we’re lucky that when it comes to corn, the best is right here in Indiana.”
Cardinal’s winning spirit has only been available in Indiana since last year and this was the first time it has been entered into competition. What makes it even more special is that Cardinal was one of the early partners with ICMC in the “Raising the Glass” video series and have a vested interest the success of Hoosier agriculture.
“Everything we use to distill and flavor our award-winning spirits are real-deal botanicals, fruits, and spices,” Wuslich said. “We never use bottled extracts or flavorings, and we source local ingredients – including our corn, honey and walnuts whenever possible.”
Distillers from across 17 “Heartland” states competed in this year’s competition. The event is sanctioned and supervised by the American Craft Spirits Association (ACSA) and is sponsored by the promotion arms of participating state corn associations. Best of State awards are given to the top scoring entry from each state with Best of Show honors going to the highest scoring whiskey overall.
Each entry is judged on a blind tasting. Judges are chosen for their demonstrated expertise in the craft spirits industry.
The blind judging process is supervised by ACSA and every submission is tasted and graded on a point system. The entries are noted for their defining characteristics. Points determine the top three in each category and all distillers receive judging notes on their submissions.
ACSA delineates specific entry criteria consistent with its stewardship of this and other spirits competitions. The one criterion unique to this competition is that all whiskey submissions must be made from some amount of corn.
Though arguably young by distillery standards, Cardinal Spirits is no stranger to successful outcomes in spirits competitions. In fact, in the six years they’ve been in operation, they’ve been recognized for nearly a dozen of their spirits including a double-gold and best in category award at the 2017 American Distilling Institute Spirits Competition for their corn-based Terra botanical gin.
Cardinal was not the only Indiana distiller recognized at this year’s competition. Starlight Distillery from Clark County, Ind. took the bronze medal for its Carl T’s Limited Release Double Oak/French Oak Whiskey. Starlight, operating out of the Huber Orchard and Winery in Starlight, Ind., has been known for their brandies since entering the distilling space in 2004, but have more recently been distilling whiskeys, bourbons, vodka, rum and gin.
Both Cardinal Spirits and Starlight Distillery products can be found in your local package and grocery stores, or head to southern Indiana to schedule a tour and tasting. You can also learn more about Cardinal Spirits and their distilling practices, as well as a few cocktails on their menu, by checking out the ICMC YouTube channel and searching for the Raising the Glass video series.
