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Warm Spirits For Winter Nights

A dusting of freshly ground nutmeg over one half of the cocktail makes for a simple yet strikin garnish.
A dusting of freshly ground nutmeg over one half of the cocktail makes for a simple yet strikin garnish.

This week on Earth Eats we hope to get you into the holiday spirit with a behind-the-scenes look at the making of a walnut liqueur. Earth Eats visits Cardinal Spirits on bottling day, and then we join Scott Lowe for a winter cocktail recipe.

Cardinal Spirits is a craft distillery in Bloomington Indiana. Nocino is one of their festive winter spirits. We spoke with co-founder Adam Quirk and several other members of the Cardinal team, in the Fall of 2018 about the process behind the liqueur.

I returned to Cardinal this fall, and Scott Lowe shared a Nocino cocktail recipe with me (see below).

Here's another Nocino recipe, from Chris Resnick.

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Music on this episode from Actual Figures, and from Universal Production Music.

The Earth Eats’ theme music is composed by Erin Tobey and performed by Erin and Matt Tobey.

Kayte Young discovered her passion for growing, cooking, foraging and preserving fresh food when she moved to Bloomington in 2007. With a background in construction, architecture, nutrition education and writing, she brings curiosity and a love of storytelling to a show about all things edible. Kayte raises bees, a small family and a yard full of food in Bloomington’s McDoel Gardens neighborhood.