Uwe Ehinger is obsessed with motorcycles.
According to his website, he was “infected with an incurable fever: the Harley virus” at the tender age of 17. Ever since, he has been on the hunt for obscure motorcycle parts across the globe, which he uses to construct painfully cool vintage motorcycles.
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In fact, Ehinger is so inspired by motorcycles, that he has begun to infuse gin with vintage Harley Davidson parts. The final product is a gin called The Archaeologist, a nod to vintage-obsessed Ehinger’s nickname in the motorcycle industry and is being branded as “the first gin including Harley Davidson’s true spirit.”
In a promotional video, Archaeologist is described as a line of “dry gin flavored with the spirit of rare, original engine parts of three classic Harley Davidson models: Flathead, Panhead, and Knucklehead,” or so a hyper-masculine voice narrates.
Sure, scorpions, owls, and cobras floating in booze have all raised eyebrows, but there’s something about chromed-out Harley parts that is particularly visually compelling. Also, who has enough 80-year-old Harley parts laying around to make gin with?
Every bottle will come with a history of the specific piece of metal inside. Vintage motorcycle parts are not cheap, a reality which is reflected in the prices of these bottles, which range from 900 euros for the 1962 Panhead to 1,100 euros for the 1939 Flathead.
To be clear, the motorcycle parts are not part of the distillation process here. Rather, “premium dry gin” is poured over the mechanical parts in custom glass bottles capable of withstanding the inevitable clanking that this product will create.
It’s also worth mentioning that the metal is covered in a thin “food-safe seal” that will presumably prevent the metal—and your insides—from rusting.
Update: The makers of The Archeologist gin contacted MUNCHIES to clarify that “the bottles do not clank.” A member of the Ehinger Kraftrad team, the motorbike manufacturing company founded by Uwe Ehinger told MUNCHIES, “The motorcycle parts are actually fixed in the bottle… There is no clanking.”