Friday, August 19, 2016

Automated Bartender?

Recently, we here at The Hedonistic Bar became aware of a 2 new technological gadgets that proclaim to help you make great cocktails at home. Both of these devices are able to connect to a smart phone or tablet. As our readers are aware, we are new to the world of smart phones and tablets. We wondered could these devices help us make better drinks at home or make cocktail creation easier? While neither of the products we are going to talk about here are available for purchase yet, we thought we would provide our readers with our take on this new technology.

Bernoli     https://bernooli.com/index_h.php

Image result for bernooli picturesThis device is a set of electronic pour spouts that you install on your liquor bottles. Along with the pour spouts, there is a app that you install on your smart phone or tablet. You use the app to select a drink recipe based on the liquor you have on hand or create you own recipe. Once you select a recipe the liquor bottles you will need to create the drink light up and the first one you pour flashes to alert you to begin here. Next you simply pour the bottle and the spout automatically pours the correct amount of booze. Each successive bottle will light up making recipes simple and easy to follow.




              


               




 Photo Courtesy Bernooli



Somabar     http://www.somabarkickstarter.com

Think of this as a Keurig for cocktails. This device has 6 pods for your favorite cocktail ingredients. Once loaded with ingredients you use a mobile app to find a drink recipe and order your drink. The makers tout the ability to add bitters in drinks as well as delivering a perfectly mixed drink every time. The device also flushes itself with water between drinks to prevent cross contamination of flavors.

                                                                                         






Photo Courtesy Somabar




While we have not had a chance to test either of these products, we are a bit skeptical of their effectiveness. We don't see how these devices can properly chill different cocktails or add just the right amount of bitters. To us, drink making is part science and part art. While you can precisely measure ingredients, it takes skill and tastes to determine the tartness of citrus on a particular day and adjust accordingly. We at The Hedonistic Bar will save our money for some rare whisk(e)y and continue to uses our shaker and mixing glass to craft our drinks.