"Sci-fi meets 'Mad Men'" bar serving its own spirits opens this week near Wimberley

Hold onto your third eye. Or your pocket square. Or something. A trippy tasting room in a rather unexpected location, serving an obscure spirit, will be earthbound on Thursday when twin brothers Jay and Ryan Gitman open Senza Maeso at 1090 FM 32 near Wimberley. 

The small tasting room has an elegant blend of art deco and sci-fi details that feels completely out of place near the intersection of FM 32 and FM 12, a few miles from the Devil’s Backbone dive bar. 

The bar will serve the Gitmans' handcrafted gooseberry liquor

The high concept bar, its name an Italian-Spanish mash-up meaning “Without Master,” will feature the brothers’ handcrafted liquor that shares a name with the bar. The Gitmans cultivated the 80-proof liquor from the South American cape gooseberry. 

The spirit, aged for six months with herbs including damiana and epazote, is “bright, balanced, and complex, yielding notes of apricot and citrus, with an herbaceous, bitter finish,” according to a release. 

The brothers developed Senza Maeso with help from liquor consultant and co-owner of Revolution Spirits, Mark Shilling, and brought it to market in 2023. It is sold at bars and liquor stores through Central Texas. This will be the first bar from the Ohio natives. Jay has worked the last 20 years in real estate and business and Ryan, who moved to Austin in 2007, has a service industry resume that includes Swan Dive and Stay Gold.

Cocktails at Senza Maeso will be made using the eponymous spirit, along with  R.A.Y. Vodka, also distilled by the Gitmans and served only at the bar. Wine, cider and non-alcoholic drinks will also be on offer. 

Secret doors, science gadgets and 'Cosmos' in the bathrooms

But back to this time-hop of a bar, designed by NYC-based 71 Collective, which designed Michelin-starred Clover Hill in Brooklyn and Manhattan tiki bar Paradise Lost. The release describes Senza Maeso as having a “cosmic aesthetic adorned with sensory elements from kinetic art and vintage science gadgets to secret doors and bathrooms projecting Carl Sagan’s Cosmos Series on loop.” 

In addition to a cozy 500-square feet of indoor space and a covered outdoor patio, Senza Maeso also has a half acre of land that will be used for live music and events. The brothers also plan to add food trucks to the property. 

Senza Maeso will be open 1 to 9 p.m. Thursday and Friday; noon to 9 p.m. Saturday and noon to 8 p.m. Sunday.