Empirical Ayuuk - 750 ml
A delicious fruity smokiness from the Pasilla Mixe chili. Built on Danish heritage purple wheat and pilsner malt, rested in Oloroso sherry casks.
Category
Botanical spirit
ABV
43%
Volume
750 ml
Ways to drink it
Batanga
Pasilla Mixe smoke meets Cynar and cola — built in glass.
Ayuuk Old Fashioned
Smoke and dried-fruit depth, Old Fashioned geometry.
Ayuuk Batanga
Smoky Pasilla Mixe chili meets cola and lime — the classic Batanga, restored.
Ayuuk Margarita
Smoky Margarita on tequila + Ayuuk — chili salt rim closes the loop.
Ayuuk Negroni
Pasilla Mixe smoke + coffee-infused sweet vermouth — the Negroni, rebuilt.
Ayuuk Paloma
Pink grapefruit soda meets smoky Pasilla Mixe — three ingredients.
Ayuuk Bloody Mary
Smoky Bloody Mary — Ayuuk does what vodka can't.
Pasilla Colada
Piña Colada with smoke — Ayuuk + yellow Chartreuse + coconut cream.
Cilantro Penicillin
Penicillin restaged — Cilantro + Centerbe + ginger-honey + Ayuuk float.
Sierra Norte
Ayuuk, agave, lime zest — three lines, all spirit.
Vicky's Hot Toddy
Ayuuk and rum, lemon and honey, hot water — winter, fixed.
Ayuuk Milk Punch
Sherry, sencha and Ayuuk clarified by milk — a punch-bowl heirloom.
Ayuuk & Cherry
Cherry soda, a whisper of coffee, smoke on top.
Naked & Smokey
A Naked & Famous with Ayuuk standing in — equal parts, full smoke.
Pasilla Margarita
A bigger, bolder margarita with pasilla sauce for backbone.
Ayuuk & Ginger
Smoke, lime, ginger beer — the easiest highball on the list.
Ayuuk & Ginger Ale
A summer can: cucumber, salt, smoke.
Other suggested serves
Have a favorite serve with this spirit? Tag @costaspirits when you pour it.
From the Journal
5 min
Empirical Spirits: koji, vacuum, and the right to ignore categories
Lars Williams and Mark Emil Hermansen built a distillery that refuses to call itself a gin company. Here's how they did it.
4 min
Empirical Cilantro, one botanical, two camps, one polarizing spirit
Empirical's single-botanical cilantro spirit is now distributed in Florida by Costa Spirits. 38% ABV on a light French-wheat base, built for bartenders who want to serve something that splits the room, in a good way.
5 min
Empirical Spirits in Florida, eighteen months in, the case for category-refusing distillates
Costa Spirits has been the Florida distributor for Empirical since late 2024, the Copenhagen distillery from Noma alums Lars Williams and Mark Emil Hermansen. Ayuuk, Soka, The Plum, and the rest of the line have settled into the rooms we expected: cocktail bars that build menus around ingredients, not categories.
