Gary Hinegardner grows corn – 18 different types of heritage corn, using natural pollination. He distills corn into whiskey that wins international awards.

But he also uses some of that spirit to produce a line of cordials. There’s one made with persimmon, a couple variations of blackberry and a walnut liqueur the color of morning coffee.

The owner of Wood Hat Spirits distillery in New Florence is particular about his corn fields out back. There are blue varieties, some tinted red and others with a purple sheen. All of them carry names that date back for decades or centuries. And he plans to add a few dozen additional varieties by the summer.

“The core of who we are is different types of corn,” he said. “But persimmons, blackberries, walnuts – that’s Missouri right there.”

Wood Hat’s Persimmon Cordial sends warming aromas from the glass. Like the steam rising from a spiced toddy on a chilly night, hints of rich honey and caramelized fruit drift alongside toasted spice, casting a comforting spell.

Take a sip and the potion takes you through burnished honey to the earthy trail of cardamom, with faint notions of cinnamon tripping lightly across the palate. The natural sweetness develops and lingers, but the fruit is always present.

While the persimmon is nuanced, the Berry Berry Cordial is bold, gushing with fresh berries. Hinegardner adds some raspberry to balance out the blackberry, but some of the bite remains to lend a rustic background note to the bright fruit.

The distillery also turns out a Tawny Cordial, borrowing from the vernacular of port wine. Hinegardner takes his Berry Berry blend and ages it in blue corn whiskey barrels for a year. What comes out is dense in flavor, with the opulent impression of cured fruit prominent – like raisin, but with a bittersweet candied note. It’s soothing, like relaxing in a worn leather sofa by a sooty fireplace.

“The barrel has made it more round,” Hinegardner observes. “It’s the same stuff, we just put it in a barrel.”

He also thinks everything through. The wood for his barrels sits in wind, rain, snow and sun for three years, and it’s all Missouri oak. He allows sunlight to hit some of his spirits. Because he spent much of his career as an agronomist and woodturner, Hinegardner can speak volumes about the science of distilling, the right moment to pick crops, the aging process and how it can vary.

Cordials are relatively easy to make. Steep fruit in alcohol, use sugar to coax out the juices – “That’s it,” he said.

The science is in the interaction of natural corn, foraged fruit, water, wood and spirit – a good, clean distilled alcohol. All factors that come together at some point to create something memorable.

“The spirit from blue corn is smooth up front with a clean finish,” Hinegardner explained. “It doesn’t overpower what you put in it.”

Timing is critical to Wood Hat’s Black Walnut Liqueur. The nuts must be harvested before the meat forms and the shells harden – an Italian method used in the making of Nocino.

It’s a traditional approach, with whole spices and lemon rind in addition to the hulls.

“We didn’t call it Nocino because we wanted to sell it here,” Hinegardner said with a laugh.

On the nose it offers freshly cracked walnuts, with impressions of coffee, black pepper and drying herbs. The aromas have the haunting beauty of an old orchard, but on the palate the Black Walnut is more of a winter celebration – toasted nuts, cloves, allspice with the bitter pang of dark brewed coffee. It’s spicy and sweet, with a lingering finish.

So blue corn and a wealth of knowledge are at the core of Wood Hat Spirits. But when you can win Best of Category with liqueurs at the American Distilling Institute awards, there’s reason to expand to fruits and nuts.