Sergio Lizano’s Challenge to Create the Liquor That Could Become Costa Rica’s National Drink ⋆ The Costa Rica News

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March 11, 2026

On March 11, 2026

In September 2022, in the Curridabat area of Costa Rica, an ambition was born that seeks to redefine Costa Rica’s presence on the global liquor map. With the help of his wife, psychologist and gastronomy specialist Sergio Lizano identified a palpable gap: while other Latin American nations proudly boast iconic liquors such as tequila and pisco, Costa Rica lacked a spirit with global appeal.

“Costa Rica has Cacique, it had Ron Centenario, but we don’t have a global force that has positioned itself worldwide,” said Lizano, revealing the spark behind FireMonkey. The mission was to create a product that would not only fill the gap in the local market, but also become Costa Rica’s internationally recognized liquor.

To achieve this distinctive seal, the team decided to look to the future and to local botany. Lizano explained that the strategy was to fuse wellness ingredients with the country’s flora and fauna, creating a fresh and modern branding, far removed from traditional indigenous representations.

The result is a liquor that breaks the mold; that is, it is not a common distillate, but a macerated liquor. This choice was deliberate. “In a distillate, a lot of aromas, flavors, and oils that linger on the palate are lost,” Lizano points out.

FireMonkey preserves this natural richness thanks to its base of 100% pure ingredients such as pineapple, ginger, turmeric, herbs, and spices.

But the real magic lies in the finish. They work with a sophisticated technique: “We decided to use the same high-pressure filters used in Napa Valley and other leading vineyards to achieve an exceptional polish.” This process gives the liquor a distilled appearance, highlighting its beautiful diamond-yellow color, provided by turmeric, without sacrificing the aromatic complexity of the maceration.

Beyond its artisanal quality, FireMonkey is designed with an eye to the future. Lizano anticipated the global decline in traditional alcohol consumption among younger generations. Therefore, the liqueur was conceived to facilitate a strategic transition. “Basically, we created something that can also give us the transition to become a distillate, a non-alcoholic liqueur, which is something that is going to happen in the next 10 years worldwide.”

From its experimental beginnings in the kitchen of Curridabat with 40% neutral alcohol, to its world-class refinement, the product embodies the pursuit of Costa Rican excellence and authenticity, ready to conquer the global palate.

Sergio Lizano is no stranger to the business world, as his family has been involved in real estate and gasoline, but his fascination with gastronomy, oenology, and the palate led him to create Firemonkey with his wife.

For him, inspiration is not foreign to his daily routine. Ginger, that spicy and vital ingredient, has been his companion for more than a decade in green smoothies. “Ginger is very implicit in my life,” he said.

How do you distill the essence of a country into a drink? Lizano found the answer in two powerful symbols. First, the white-faced monkey, taken from the iconic five-thousand-colón bill, providing a visual and national touch. Second, the fruit that defines the nation’s agricultural power: the pineapple. “Firemonkey definitely has to have pineapple,” he said.

The name Firemonkey is no coincidence. The fire can be felt in the kick of ginger, but it also resides in the artisanal process. To give the alcohol that final polish before maceration, they use natural coconut charcoal, obtained by burning coconut, a process that seals the connection with nature and the elemental. Thus, Sergio Lizano and his family team have managed to distill the strength, flavor, and spirit of Costa Rica into a drink that promises to be a “wow effect” for the palate.

Regarding the product and its changes, from homemade and artisanal to industrial, Sergio pointed out that each stage is different from the next, both in terms of the equipment used and the processes, labor, and people involved, all of which are constantly changing.

The product required an infrastructure and legal framework that tested the patience of its creators. It took two and a half years, from 2022 (creation) to 2025, for FireMonkey to make significant progress, and everything was based on the permitting process through FANAL (National Liquor Factory), which involves acquiring a concession. This concession allows them to use 95% alcohol, so that’s where the first variation comes in.

At home, they used the liquors they could buy at the supermarket, neutral spirits with 40% alcohol content, and began their experiments. The process of obtaining a permit through FANAL to acquire a concession for the use of 95% alcohol took approximately a year and a half. This permit marked a fundamental change in the alchemy of the product. “Maceration is completely different with 95% alcohol than with 40%,” said Lizano.

Once the concession was secured, the team focused on gradual scaling up. The tests went from small domestic batches to samples of 5, 10, and 100 liters, until reaching the current capacity of processing nearly 1,000 liters.

Industrialization took time, both in terms of permits and installation. “You have to be very patient, but in the end, it’s all worth it.”

It was a time of learning and perseverance that laid the foundation for FireMonkey to position itself as the liquor that could finally bring Costa Rica’s seal to the world.

When asked how many products have been distributed or sold so far, Sergio explained that, as distributors, they started in June 2025. “FireMonkey sold around 10,000 bottles between its launch last year and December/January. That’s obviously because there’s a boom, then it stabilizes a bit, drops a bit, and then in the third year there’s a stabilization of the market where you see more stable metrics. But yes, let’s say we managed to position about 10,000 units in six months.”

Sergio Lizano said that the biggest challenge was not technical, but human—finding partners who believed in his business vision.

“I had the recipe, the branding, the image, the name—all of that is mine. The hardest part was finding someone who believed in me as a business reality,” Lizano confessed, recalling the most difficult moment in the process.

Lizano recounted how, after months of excitement, a key negotiation fell through. A potential partner, who seemed ideal, backed out after two months of intense talks because his factory could not handle the processing of the pineapple pulp needed for maceration. “Imagine two months of getting excited about something, only to have it fall apart from one moment to the next.”

This experience taught him a fundamental lesson, which is why he added: “You have to know how to read the signs, know how to read the river you’re swimming in a little, and know how to let go, try not to swim against the current.”

Fortunately, perseverance paid off. After that setback, the project found its anchor in a family and professional partnership. Lizano details the current structure: initial financing came from personal funds and family support, while production is managed through a maquila with strategic partners.

The key partner turned out to be Pulpas Cañón, a family-owned fruit processing company with operations in Cañón del Guarco, near Santa María de Dota. “They opened their doors to me, loved the idea, and we continued with the project. It’s a family affair.”

This company, with experience working for major brands, is responsible for supplying pineapple pulp ready for maceration.

While Lizano focuses on sales and marketing, the Pulpas Cañón team ensures consistent quality.

Now that production has stabilized, the future looks promising. Lizano confirmed that they are already working on two additional products, although he cannot give details due to licensing issues. They want to cater to three types of palates. FireMonkey is one, and the other two products will be two other types of palates. In his opinion, the brand is ready to establish itself as a multi-flavor benchmark in the market.

The energy that Lizano wants to infuse into each bottle is cultivated from the origin of its ingredients. “The energy surrounding this product is that the bottle comes with a seal of love, and that love comes from the person who processes the pineapple at the plant, the person who extracts the product and filters it.”

He describes his relationship with suppliers as deeply authentic. The connection with Pulpas Cañón, his industrial partner, extends to his farm, which is dedicated to empowering women entrepreneurs in fruit harvesting and processing, many of whom are single mothers or affected by family conflicts.

The Costa Rican told us that the relationship has been very organic, very natural, very farmer-to-farmer, producer-to-manufacturer, but always maintaining the pura vida spirit.

In this way, the team has committed to focusing negotiations on quality and energy, avoiding conflicts related to money.

The path to the consumer has been accelerated thanks to key partners. Lizano added that their main distributor is Habla Bebidas, who believed strongly in the product and are now distributing it everywhere as well.

In the case of local ginger and pineapple producers, have they perhaps implemented a long-term plan to ensure supply in the face of climate fluctuations or changes in the Costa Rican agricultural market? When asked, Lizano replied that yes, “we always have a plan to save the summer harvest, which is needed for the winter.”

In his opinion, pineapple is very strong all year round, there is a huge supply of pineapple, in fact, a large majority is exported. “We still have enough for the domestic market for ginger. Turmeric is a little more limited, but we also have storage facilities. Fortunately, ginger itself is a root, which is quite sustainable, but yes, there are always discussions with producers.”

FireMonkey is currently available at strategic locations: the airport (duty-free), numerous liquor stores, and the country’s main supermarkets, achieving almost complete coverage in the retail sector.

However, the journey is not over yet. “Where we still need to go is to bars and restaurants, which are gradually adopting it.”

The goal for 2026 is to expand the brand’s presence to rural areas, bars, and cantinas, ensuring that the liquor that was born in Curridabat becomes the true ambassador of Costa Rican flavor nationally and internationally.

Speaking of the international arena, the international expansion plan is underway, with a measured approach to ensure that supply meets demand. Currently, they are processing regulatory documentation in the United States, a process that they estimate will take about four months. At the same time, plant moves and expansion are underway in Europe to reach the volume necessary for the international market.

In addition to the US, talks have spread to Central America (Panama, Honduras), Brazil in South America, and there are plans for the Netherlands and Germany.

Lizano mentioned that connections have been strengthened thanks to participation in investment events organized by Procomer.

In fact, with the support of Procomer and the country brand, Firemonkey was presented at the Costa Rica Investment Summit, where it attracted attention from the United States, Japan, and Central America.

During the event, the promoter sat down to talk with each representative from each country for approximately 30 minutes, and the person tried the product.

When asked whether they would focus on the artisanal niche or compete directly in the global digestive segment, Sergio revealed a more flexible and ambitious strategy: no rigid label will be assigned to the product.

He added that the product has enormous versatility. Although it is digestive in nature, the Costa Rican public is already adopting it in multiple ways: as a cold shot, to drink on its own (whiskero), and it is wonderful in cocktails (mixology), thanks to the fact that gingerols (the active component of ginger) enhance flavors.

The value proposition can be summarized as broad positioning: an ultra-digestive wellness liqueur. In fact, Tico finds inspiration in the case of Jägermeister, which went from being a tavern digestif to a global shot.

Sergio’s academic background gives the project a unique perspective. He has a bachelor’s degree in psychology and a master’s degree in psychoanalysis from England. This foundation is complemented by certifications as a meditation teacher, having traveled through India and found valuable perspectives along the way.

His passion extends to neuromarketing, the field that studies how the unconscious mind makes decisions about products before you even buy them. This understanding of subconscious decision-making is key to understanding his approach to FireMonkey’s branding and image.

“Sometimes, what you study is not what you end up doing. You have to open your mind a little. Sometimes the path of life is like a river, so you have to let go and sometimes things just happen,” he said.

Sergio Lizano’s heart seems to lie in flavor; he has a deep connection to cooking and loves to cook.

He recalled his time as a restaurant owner, businesses he eventually sold after the pandemic. He recognizes that physical businesses, unless they are iconic, often have an uncontrollable life cycle.

His interest in flavor is highly developed, with a particular fascination for umami, that fifth flavor that arises from the masterful combination of sweet, bitter, and salty, causing independent flavors to merge into a single experience. This skill has been evident in the pairings he has shared with his close circle.

This passion for creating taste experiences has led him to plan his next educational step: once FireMonkey is established, Lizano will devote himself to training as a Master of Wine.

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