Empirical Dock House 2020

The team will be slinging cocktails, Empirical boozy ice creams, and a banging Empirical Milkshake laced with Ayuuk between your dips in the water. We are looking forward to welcoming you, catching up, and fueling you with Empirical love.

Toby Evans designed some special cans for us

Our special edition mix packs of CAN 01 and CAN 02 feature artwork from artist and designer Toby Evans. We had a decent chat with him about it.

Releases: The making of ES x Ticuchi with Yana Volfson

In celebration of Cinco de Mayo this year, we asked Yana Volfson of Cosme (NYC), Atla (NYC), and Ticuchi (Mexico City) to create a festive drink that marries our habanero spirit with essential Mexican flavors. Nuestra casa su casa, so here's the recipe.

Serves: The Plum, I Suppose with Chris and Sasha

The Plum, I Suppose cocktails prepared by R+D's very own, Sasha and Chris.

Like bounding through a Nordic pine forest during berry season

A bracing, crimson drink that feels like bounding through a Nordic pine forest during berry season. Available now.

The one-off experiment that became a permanent fixture

Can 01 is a lightly carbonated drink based on a spirit made from beet molasses and Belgian saison yeast. It has been flavored with ingredients such as milk oolong cold brew tea, toasted birch tea, gooseberry spirit, cold-infused gooseberry juice, douglas fir spirit, and pomelo zest spirit.

Why did we end up making cans?

It’s not often you get to hear from people who make cans of ready-to-drink booze, because usually, the story behind them is, “we got some gin and some tonic and we mixed them up and put them in a can”. But these cans are special so we thought we’d ask him a few questions about them.

Research: What is kōji?

Kōji is a fungus. In fact, a few fungi. The word is Japanese. The Japanese character for kōji means ‘rice flower’, which is exactly what it looks like when it’s growing—a landscape of white, fluffy, tiny flowers blooming from the surface of the grains.

The Making of Empirical

We do things our own way. Taking a flavor-first approach means that we don’t pay attention to the conventional categories that traditionalists often want to cast us into. Instead, we focus on finding great ingredients and turning them into experiences.

Friends: A Drink With Tata

Leading up to our Gedulgt x Tata bar swap, we caught up with bar manager Jonas Andersen, and head bartender Harry Bell to get the lowdown on their award-winning approach. 

Friends: A Drink with Gedulgt

In Danish, Gedulgt means secret or well-hidden. Tucked away in a historic backyard, the name is appropriate for the award-winning cocktail bar in Aarhus, Denmark. Most recently, they added the People’s Choice nod at the Bartenders’ Choice Awards to their lengthy list of accolades.

Cans are here

Lightly carbonated drinks based on a spirit made from beet molasses and Belgian Saison yeast.

Serves: Charlene McGee Lot Six Edition & Vermouth

For Charlene McGee Lot Six Edition, we recommend a riff on a classic Manhattan. The spirit’s round, smoky flavor profile at cask strength makes it an apt challenger for the recipe’s standard bourbon. Chances are that after a few of these, you might develop your own pyrokinetic powers à la Firestarter.

Releases: Charlene McGee Lot Six Edition

This limited release is a cask strength send-off to Charlene McGee, one of our first spirits based on smoked juniper. At 50% ABV, you may gain pyrokinetic powers from this Firestarter-inspired edition.

Events: GANNI FW20 x Empirical

During Copenhagen Fashion Week, we partnered with our friends at GANNI on a string of activations. A strong match for Empirical, GANNI is challenging creatives to work with more responsible materials aiming to reuse and recycle existing materials to create unique and one-of-a-kind products.

Events: Empirical's Lars Williams at Peoples Wine

Lars Williams is home for the holidays. To kick-off the festivities, we’re holding a special tasting at Peoples, the new wine shop and bar from Contra/Wildair duo Fabian von Hauske and Jeremiah Stone.

Serves: Flora Danica & Tonic

Based on the wild plants of Danish summer, Flora Danica is a herbaceous spirit with a slightly bitter finish. Complement it with tonic and a hint of lemon to make this bright serve.

Releases: What’s old is new again, Flora Danica

In 1752, botanist Georg C. Oeder set out to collect all of the plants in the Danish Kingdom into an encyclopedia called "Flora Danica". We took a stab at our own interpretation of Flora Danica. At the end of this past summer, our R&D team went searching for interesting plants around the distillery and greater Copenhagen. 

A festive guide to Empirical

That’s right, ‘tis the season, folks, and here at Empirical Spirits, we’re looking to spread some holiday cheer this year, any way we can.

Events: Empirical End of Year Glögg Blowout

Come and join us for some festive fun at Empirical Saturday 14th December. Lars is making his famous glögg, from a family recipe, and our favourite baker, Louise Bannon of Tir Bakery, is on the æbleskiver pans. 

Serves: The Plum, I Suppose & Citrus Soda

The Plum, I Suppose captures plum kernel’s marzipan high notes and the fruit’s nuanced sweetness. Bring out the brightness of this spirit with citrus soda in this refreshing serve.

Releases: The Plum, I Suppose

We set out to make a spirit based on plum kernel. Plum kernels lie within the pits of all plums. They have a rich fragrance, fruity top notes, and marzipan undertones. In both appearance and taste, they most closely resemble almonds. We get ours from the Stanley variety of plums, known for its plump, dark blue-skinned fruit with yellow flesh.

Events: Empirical x Fruktstereo x Josephine Sondlo

We’re teaming up with Fruktstereo and Josephine Sondlo for a special takeover of Bio Rio. Join us at the cinema bar for unique cocktails featuring our spirits and Fruktstereo’s category defying fruit pét-nats. 

Serves: Ayuuk & Ginger Ale

Our new core spirit Ayuuk is based on Pasilla Mixe, a special smoke-dried chili that grows in a cloud forest. For this serve, the chili’s pleasantly spicy, vegetal notes are balanced out with the zesty, bite of ginger.

Releases: The Story of Ayuuk

The story behind Ayuuk, our smoke-dried Pasilla Mixe spirit, as told by Lars Williams. The images were taken by Arthur Couvat during a trip to the Sierra Norte mountains in September 2019.

Serves: Freyja & Champagne

Named after the goddess of love, based on an ingredient that only blooms once a year, and only 200 bottles made in total, Freyja is fittingly best enjoyed with Champagne. For this refreshing serve, opt for a crisp, dry Champagne to complement the elderflower spirit’s natural, subtle sweetness.

Events: Empirical x Mrs Robinson's

To kick-off this year’s Bar Convent Berlin, we’re having a party with our friends at Mrs Robinson’s. It’s one of the city’s most creative new restaurants located in a cozy space that was once a

In the Tasting Room: Schofield's x Gedulgt

Joe Schofield of Schofield’s and Sensorium in Manchester along with Jens Kim and Mads Schack of Gedulgt in Aarhus are joining our team for an intimate cocktail experience at the Tasting Room in Cope

Serves: ES X ēe #1 & Soda Water

ES X ēe #1 is a collaboration with Alex Kratena & Monica Berg of Tayēr & Elementary in London. It's made using Lebanese cherry stems, coffee chaff, carob, corn husk kombucha, and Citra hops. The project’s aim is to gather and re-interpret inspiration from various regions, ingredients, and techniques they've encountered throughout research and development trips around the world.

Serves: Helena & Green Tea

Helena is our base product: a double fermented clear koji spirit. The spirit combines a base flavor of sweet, floral notes from koji nuttiness and toasted bread notes from barley that give way to a bright, crisp umami finish. It is the foundation upon which all of our other spirits are built.

Serves: Charlene McGee & Cream Soda

Charlene McGee is a juniper spirit inspired by the Scandinavian culinary tradition of smoking. The spirit has base notes of fresh juniper, fruity blackberries, and resinous, fragrant juniper sap that leaves a smooth, smoky finish. Unlike a traditional heavily peated spirit, this is a smoother and lighter flavor experience with smoke.

Serves: Fallen Pony & Tonic

Fallen Pony is an aromatic double-fermented quince tea spirit made from a base of quince, barley koji, Belgian Saison yeast, and pilsner malt wash. The blend preserves the sweet botanical notes, highlights hints of marzipan, and provides balanced acidity. A deceptively light drinking experience at 35% ABV.

Serves: Fuck Trump & Watermelon

Fuck Trump and His Stupid Fucking Wall is a refreshingly smooth, warm, vegetal tasting habanero spirit made from a base of pearled barley, Belgian saison yeast, and koji. Through low-temperature vacuum-distillation, we removed capsaicin, the painfully spicy active component in the chilies, to preserve the pleasantly floral and fruit-forward notes typically hidden in habaneros.

Serves: Fuck Trump & Pink Grapefruit Soda

Fuck Trump and His Stupid Fucking Wall is a refreshingly smooth, warm, vegetal tasting habanero spirit made from a base of pearled barley, Belgian saison yeast, and koji. Through low-temperature vacuum-distillation, we removed capsaicin, the painfully spicy active component in the chilies, to preserve the pleasantly floral and fruit-forward notes typically hidden in habaneros.

Events: The Cambridge Public House x Empirical

We've just landed in France. To mark our arrival, we’re throwing a party with our friends at The Cambridge Public House.

Events: Empirical Spirits Píib Party

In Yucatan Mayan culture, a Píib is an earth oven and an important means of symbolic connection with the earth. As a nod to that, we’re digging a hole and roasting a bunch of pigs 1st September 2018.

Events: Little Red Door x Ruby x Empirical

Rory Shepherd and Ben C. Wilson of Little Red Door (Paris), as well as Jeppe Nothlev Schefte of Ruby (Copenhagen), are joining the Empirical Team for an exclusive and intimate cocktail experience at Empirical Spirits HQ, Copenhagen. This feast of creativity and innovation will include five drinks based on Empirical Spirits, each paired with a snack. There will also be the chance to view the inner workings of Empirical with a private tour of the distillery.

“Behind the Spirits”: a short film by Arthur Couvat about Empirical

'The Power of Collaboration' by Chido Govera and Lars Williams

Enriching the world with the tastes of Zimbabwe, with Chido Govera (farmer, activist, educator, and creator of The Future of Hope Foundation, Zimbabwe) and Lars Williams (Empirical Spirits, Denmark). This video was shot at Fru.to, Alexa Atala's symposium in Brazil.