Empirical started as a Copenhagen flavor lab, founded in 2017 by Lars Williams and Mark Emil Hermansen after years at Noma's R&D kitchen. Williams brought the whole operation home to Brooklyn in 2023, setting up a 5,000-square-foot distillery in North Bushwick where the team now makes spirits that refuse to sit in any category. There's no bourbon here, no gin by the classical definition - just vacuum-distilled, fermentation-forward expressions with names like Soka, Symphony 6, and Cilantro, each built around a specific flavor idea rather than a historical template.

The distillery's bar and tasting room, 53AD, opened in fall 2024 on the same Johnson Avenue block. By appointment during the day, it's a dedicated space to experience Empirical's small-batch and limited-run spirits with guided tastings for groups of up to eight. At night the space opens as a cocktail bar, pouring adventurous drinks - including a tofu-clarified cocktail that actually works - with DJs on weekends. It's inclusive, relaxed, and genuinely unlike anywhere else you'd go to drink in the borough.