Cilantro is one of the most divisive ingredients in the kitchen. About 14% of the population carries an OR6A2 gene variant that makes the herb taste like soap. The other 86% reach for it the way the rest of us reach for salt. Empirical Spirits, never a brand to avoid the polarizing call, distilled a one-botanical spirit around exactly that herb. Empirical Cilantro is available across Florida through Costa Spirits: and since landing on Miami back bars in 2025, it's become one of the bottles we get the most repeat orders for.

What's in the bottle

Cilantro is a single-botanical distillation. The base is light French wheat. The liquid is built around the leaf, stem, and aromatic top notes of fresh cilantro, distilled vacuum-style to preserve the volatile compounds that get destroyed in a traditional hot still. There's bright citrus aromatics, a clear green-tomato and tomatillo-stem note, lime through the middle, and a touch of vinegar at the back for lift and balance.

At 38% ABV, it's crisp and unexpectedly clean. Not a syrupy "flavor liqueur", a proper distillate that drinks like a herb-driven gin without any of the juniper baggage.

How to use it behind the bar

Cilantro is built to be a *finishing tool*, the layer that turns a familiar serve into something a guest will ask about. Where to start:

- Over ice with soda and a squeeze of lime. The simplest possible expression, lets the herb sing. - In a margarita as a partial split with the tequila or mezcal. Adds green, garden-fresh depth without losing the silhouette. - In a martini or sour for a savory, dimensional finish. Surprisingly good against gin and Lillet. - Paired with tomatillo, yuzu, cucumber, or chili: the cuisine-of-origin pairings that the Empirical team developed at Noma.

Why it works

Empirical doesn't approach spirits like distillers, they approach them like chefs. The brief for Cilantro wasn't "make a cilantro liqueur." It was "what does cilantro actually smell like, and how do we capture that?" The answer is a spirit that doesn't just *taste* like cilantro. It captures the whole garden experience, leaf, stem, sunshine, the green snap that turns a cocktail from good to memorable.

And yes, they know cilantro is divisive. That's the point.

Available now in Florida

Costa Spirits is the official Florida distributor of Empirical Cilantro. To add it to your backbar or schedule a tasting, contact info@costaspirits.com.