German biker Uwe Ehinger shows his respect towards iconic motorcycles of the world by setting out to the most remote places of the planet and searching for the lost two-wheeled relics and their engine parts. He does this to reintegrate the antique findings into his new motorcycles, a practice that has made him to be known as “The Archaeologist.”
Within his mission to honor the two-wheel machines, the craftsman founded Ehinger Kraftrad, a place where he gives new life to the rusty motor pieces. Over the years, with all motorcycles that were resurrected in his hands, he managed to demonstrate that every single part of the recycled rides can be still preserved as good as new. His passion made him realize that he can create something beautiful and as epic as the bike itself. So, he decided to develop a remarkable, ‘bike-flavored’ alcoholic beverage.
“The Archaeologist Premium Dry Gin” is the world’s first spirit to literally include the rebel spirit of Harley Davidson bikes. The artisan used obsolete pieces of engines he found in Latin America and East Asia and incorporated the remains within the special drink’s bottle. To put his plan into action, Ehinger got in touch with Service Plan Group and Studio Oeding.
Together, they developed the creative concept and crafted a unique taste experience produced solely out of gin and vintage bike parts. The Harley’s ‘essence’ can be now found across three assortment types from which you can choose: 1939 Flathead from the Mexican desert, 1947 Knucklehead from Chile, or 1962 Panhead from South Korea. The creator of the Harley-infused liquor says that everything he does is just a “tribute to the things that used to be.”
Not only you can have your skin safely tattooed using an ink that contains the burnout residue from a modified Indian Scout bike, now you can also have a sip of the motorbike-flavored gin. To assure enthusiasts the alcoholic drink is safe to be consumed, the collector specially cleansed the motorbike pieces and then sealed them in an aluminum foil. The discovered fragments were then soldered onto a metallic structure and placed in the handcrafted bottle.
As for the visual production, the Hamburg-based design studio’s artists chose authentic materials and historical techniques to reflect every detail of the era in which the bike parts were manufactured. The glass bottles, made by Karl Schmid glassworks, are embroidered with different cardboards and colors, each printed on an original Heidelberg Tiegel printing press from 1931. Moreover, wrapped around every gin bottle, a waxed paper carries the story of the findings made by the motorcycle enthusiast.
The unique design is completed by hand-stamped, tamper-proof seals, which are tied to labels that bear the unique serial number of the engine pieces.
The first edition of the special drink is reserved for loyal customers only. Although quite pricey, the limited number of the bottles available online was sold out in just a few hours. The cost of a Harley liquor bottle varies from €900 to €1,100. If you want to buy one, all you need is to get in line and place your order online at The Archaeologist’s official web page.
Credits:
Client: Ehinger Kraftrad
Agency: Service Plan Group
Design: Studio Oeding