Macera Tallerbar

Macera is a Madrid based bar & workshop created in 2015 by renowned mixologist Narciso Bermejo.

After more than 15 years of experience in the national top-notch cocktail scene, Narciso decided it was time to go back to one of Spain’s most traditional and humble methods to elaborate alcoholic drinks: maceration or “macerado” in Spanish.

Maceration is the result of mixing basic alcohols such as gin, vodka or rum with a variety of herbs and fruits. After the mixture is let to rest for a few weeks, the alcohol is infused by the essences and flavours of these ingredients.

In Macera, every single drink is handcrafted right in front of you. From simple sodas, to infused alcohols, to elaborate cocktails... every drink is aimed at delivering natural, honest and affordable products to the customer. No brands involved. Just basic ingredients and a new take on Spanish traditions.

Taken Narciso’s view on the project, we were asked to build a concept that would work as a starting point to develop the brand from corporate identity, to product packaging, interior design elements, storytelling and so on.

In order to do so, we focused on the idea of basic distilled beverages understood as the main resource from which Macera develops its products.
Having a look at the distillation process itself, we came across the concept of Head, Heart & Tail.
Apparently, when distilling any alcohol, three parts are obtained.
The first part is called the “Head”. It has a high concentration of alcohol and other unwanted substances, that give the beverage a sour taste and therefore needs to be thrown away.
The second part is the “Heart”. This is where all the pleasant aromas and flavours of an alcohol are contained. It is the part that is kept for commercial use.
The last part is the “Tail”. This part is also discarded as it contains unpleasant fatty and oily substances.

The idea of the “Heart” of a distilled spirit being the main working tool of a mixologist came as quite poetic and as a good way to describe Narciso's practise. That is why we decided that “Head, Heart & Tail” would be the concept from which to build the brand.

Two-sided labels: the outside shows a simple description of the ingredients while the "core" of the product can only be seen through the inside of the bottle.