Empirical Spirits unveils ‘accessible’ RTDs
Danish distiller Empirical Spirits has branched out into the ready-to-drink (RTD) category with the launch of two canned creations, designed to make its products more accessible.
Empirical Spirits was founded in Copenhagen in 2017 by Lars Williams and Mark Emil Hermansen, both alumni of the five-time world’s best restaurant Noma in Denmark's capital. The distiller has gained notoriety for its spirits, which “use alcohol as a vessel for experimentation”. Instead of creating spirits that fit into defined categories, Empirical Spirits blends innovative techniques, fermentation, and high-quality local ingredients to create new spirits. As a result of its approach to distilling, Empirical says it is often asked how its spirits should be enjoyed. In response, the distiller has created two RTDs to “push the category” and make its products more accessible. Bottled at 10% ABV, Can 01 is a lightly carbonated drink based on a spirit made from beet molasses and Belgian saison yeast. It has been flavoured 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. Can 02 has an ABV of 8% and uses the same spirit base of beet molasses and Belgian saison yeast. It has been flavoured with cold-infused sour cherry juice, sour cherry spirit, keemun black tea cold brew, blackcurrant bud spirit, walnut wood tea, walnut wood spirit, pine cone kombucha and maqaw pepper spirit. To help create its first RTD expressions, Empirical recruited Sasha Wijidessa from Singapore cocktail bar Operation Dagger to lead the development of the drinks, which saw the company create “something like 100 iterations to get to the final stage”. Empirical says it has taken all that it knows about building flavour in spirits and cocktails and then adapted this knowledge to fit the RTD category. The two cans are available to purchase from shop.empiricalspirits.co. A pack of four 330ml cans of Can 01 and Can 02 are priced at €30 (US$33.25) each.
