Empirical Stonefruit

Empirical Stonefruit shines in coffee-forward drinks where its cherry and peach notes add depth, works beautifully in sours and fizzes, and makes a lovely digestif served neat or over ice on crisp autumn evenings—try pairing it with almond biscotti, stone fruit tarts, or aged cheeses to highlight its marzipan-like character.

Nose: Bright stone fruit opens immediately—ripe apricot and yellow peach dominate, backed by sweet almond and marzipan. There's a gentle floral lift from marigold that adds a tea-like quality, almost like chamomile with honey. Subtle hints of cherry pit and white grape round out the aroma, giving it an orchard-fresh character without any cloying sweetness.

Palate: Soft and surprisingly delicate on entry. The stone fruit kernels shine here, delivering that distinctive amaretto-like flavor—almond pastry, nectarine skin, and a touch of apricot jam. The marigold brings mild herbal bitterness, similar to white tea or calendula, which keeps things from getting too sweet. There's a light tannic grip from the fruit skins that adds structure without any harshness. The texture is smooth and coating, with moderate weight.

Finish: Clean and medium in length. The almond and peach notes fade gracefully, leaving behind a gentle bitterness like apricot pit and dried marigold petals. A hint of brown sugar sweetness lingers at the very end, along with faint notes of black tea. The finish is dry enough to make you want another sip, with no alcohol heat despite the 32% ABV.

Empirical Stonefruit uses the distillery's signature vacuum distillation technique, which operates at lower temperatures to preserve the delicate aromatic compounds found in stone fruit kernels and marigold petals—think of it as capturing the essence of fresh fruit rather than cooking it away, resulting in a spirit that tastes remarkably close to biting into a ripe peach or apricot with subtle almond-like marzipan notes from the kernels.

• The "kernel" flavor in Empirical Stonefruit doesn't come from adding extracts—it's derived from the actual pits and kernels of stone fruits like peaches, plums, and cherries, which contain natural compounds that create that distinctive marzipan-like taste. Most people toss these parts away, but Empirical discovered they hold some of the most aromatic and flavorful components of the fruit.
• Empirical Stonefruit is the refined, more accessible descendant of "The Plum, I Suppose," a spirit that won international awards but was notoriously difficult to produce and expensive to buy. The distillery spent years perfecting the production process to capture the same complex stone fruit character while making it actually affordable for home bartenders—a rare case of a premium product getting better and cheaper.
• While most fruit spirits highlight the flesh of the fruit, Stonefruit focuses on the parts you'd normally ignore: the tannic skins and aromatic kernels, plus marigold petals that mimic the floral, tea-like notes found in stone fruit blossoms. It's essentially a spirit made from the "supporting cast" of stone fruits rather than the main attraction, which is why it tastes so different from typical peach or cherry liqueurs.