A flavor company revolutionizing spirits with its free-form approach joins the ranks of OpenAI, Disney, Tiffany & Co., and more.
COPENHAGEN, Denmark, March 2, 2023 /PRNewswire-PRWeb/ -- Empirical, a flavor company revolutionizing spirits with its free-form approach, has been named to Fast Company's prestigious annual list of the World's Most Innovative Companies for 2023.
This year's list highlights the businesses at the forefront of their respective industries, paving the way for the innovations of tomorrow. These companies are setting the standard with some of the greatest accomplishments of the modern world. In addition to the World's 50 Most Innovative Companies, 540 organizations are recognized across 54 sectors and regions.
"We are flattered and grateful to be part of this prestigious list with other trailblazing companies that are at the forefront of innovation," says Lars Williams, Chef/Distiller, Co-Founder and CEO, Empirical. "To be named #1 in the Consumer Goods category is a real affirmation of our mission to create 'uncategorized' spirits that respect tradition, yet are unbound by convention. We are now even more energized to continue pioneering unprecedented spirits, with flavor as our North Star."
Creating Flavor to Connect People and Create Conviviality
Empirical was co-founded by Williams and Mark Emil Hermansen, two flavor visionaries who first met and collaborated at the acclaimed Noma and Nordic Food Lab in Copenhagen. The duo share a view of flavor as a prime vessel for connecting people and creating conviviality, with alcohol as a carrier of flavor. Their spirits, which are crafted with flavor as their sole guiding principle, transcend existing spirits categories and democratize the hard work and innovation at the height of the culinary world by impacting thousands of consumers.
A U.S. Expansion and Embracing an Eco-Friendly, Decentralized Production Strategy
Empirical recently announced that it will open its first-ever distillery and company headquarters in the U.S. as it prioritizes this key market. This is the cornerstone of Empirical's new vision for the company. Production had been centralized at its Copenhagen distillery. The company is embarking on a new model of working with trusted satellite distilleries to have production closer to local ingredient sources and markets. This will ensure being better attuned to local markets and more eco-friendly at the same time. The goal, ultimately, is to capture local terroir and create unique products in each market.
Two New Spirits That Push the Envelope of Flavor
Empirical recently launched SOKA, one of the first spirits distilled in the U.S. from sorghum cane sourced from small farms in Kentucky and Wisconsin. The spirit is highly versatile and shines in cocktails ranging from classic stirred drinks to exuberant tropical quaffs. SOKA captures the sense memory of walking through a fragrant field, with notes of fresh cut grass, sorrel, green Galia apple and farm aromas. This was followed by Symphony 6, a spirit inspired by Beethoven's Symphony No. 6, his love letter to nature. It explores the flavor potential of six under-utilized leaves: mandarin orange, lemon, coffee (rolled and unrolled), blackcurrant and fig, as well as ambrette seeds and vetiver roots. Symphony 6 creates a universal sense memory, a moment where light and dark, day and night, ephemeral and timeless meet. It resonates immediately among connoisseurs of botanical and citrus-forward spirits, like gin, and shines in variations of the Martini, Gimlet and the French 75.
Fast Company's editors and writers sought out the companies making the biggest strides around the globe. They also judged nominations received through their application process.
The World's Most Innovative Companies is Fast Company's signature franchise and one of its most highly anticipated editorial efforts of the year. It provides a firsthand look at the inspiring and innovative efforts of companies across all sectors of the economy.
"What a strange and thrilling year it has been to honor this year's Most Innovative Companies. This year's list compiles some of the most cutting-edge groundbreakers who are changing our world every single day, from legacy organizations like McDonald's to upstarts like MrBeast and institutions such as NASA. Everyone on this list does something completely, uniquely different, yet, they all have one thing in common: innovation," said Fast Company editor-in-chief Brendan Vaughan.
Fast Company will host its third annual Most Innovative Companies Summit on April 19 and 20. The virtual summit celebrates the Most Innovative Companies in business, and provides an inside look at cutting-edge business trends and what it takes to innovate in 2023. Fast Company's Most Innovative Companies issue (March/April 2023) is available online here, as well as in-app form via iTunes, and on newsstands beginning March 14. The hashtag is #FCMostInnovative.
About Empirical
Headquartered in Copenhagen, Denmark, Empirical is a flavor company founded in 2017 by Lars Williams and Mark Emil Hermansen. The two deep-thinking visionaries are inspired by the role flavor plays in their ability to create and transport experiences. The company does things its own way, having custom-built machinery, developed hybrid fermentation techniques, augmented low-temperature distillation and traveled globally to source the highest quality ingredients. Taking a flavor-first approach means that Empirical does not pay attention to the conventional categories that traditionalists often want to cast its creations into. The result is something that is democratic, shareable and driven by the journey of creating unique and unexpected flavors. Empirical is writing a playbook that does not exist—one distillation, one spirit and one flavor at a time. For more information, please visit empirical.co, follow us on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram at @empiricalcph and on YouTube.
ABOUT FAST COMPANY
Fast Company is the only media brand fully dedicated to the vital intersection of business, innovation, and design, engaging the most influential leaders, companies, and thinkers on the future of business. Headquartered in New York City, Fast Company is published by Mansueto Ventures LLC, along with our sister publication Inc., and can be found online at http://www.fastcompany.com.
Media Contact
Hanna Lee, Hanna Lee Communications, 1 (646) 752-1526, [email protected]
SOURCE Empirical
Share this article