It’s Friday and almost time for the weekend. Good timing to share some afterword tech news with you all. BLACK+DECKER partnered up with Bartesian to provide a cocktail-making machine that leverages the mixing innovation from Bartesian’s previous products and improves some aspects of that, while it still supports the same capsules for letting the machine do the cocktail mixing. Nespresso-style happy hour? Let’s check into that.
Your own “robot” bartender for your home
The compact bartending machine is called Bev, also stylized as “bev,” and it is compatible with more than 40 cocktail capsules from Bartesian. Why not just go with the regular machine straight from Bartesian? Well, the price point makes for a strong argument, for starters. While the Bartesian Cocktail Maker is available at an MSRP of $369.99 on their website and about the same on Amazon right now, BLACK+DECKER projects to launch their Bev cocktail maker on Amazon for $299 in late Spring.
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Reading some reviews of the Bartesian Cocktail Maker, I understand that some users complained about leakage that can occur with the bottles that are stored upside down into the machine. The new variant, Bev by BLACK+DECKER, allows users to store the bottles upright and avoids the risk of liquid leakage. I also like the design of Bev a little better in comparison, but this is certainly up to each and everybody. You can certainly compare the visual features of both products yourself.
So how does Bev by BLACK+DECKER work?
You simply install regular bottles of spirits to Bev that you can buy anywhere. Those are the same that you’d also buy for manual mixology, so there is no added cost because you had to order a special sort of container or brand or something else along those lines. However, the Bartesian cocktail solution is based on capsules that don’t include any alcohol but other ingredients that you need for a particular cocktail that you or your guests might fancy.
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In a press release, they share some details about these capsules, “Bartesian’s fully-recyclable capsules are made with all the real ingredients — including natural juices, extracts and bitters for effortless, lounge-quality cocktails at home without artificial colors or flavors. There are more than 40 premium cocktail recipes available for purchase, sold most commonly in a pack of six for $14.99.” What I also liked was the option to select how strong you want your cocktail (mocktail, light, regular and strong) without the risk of losing flavor by watering the drinks down.
Thoughts from the makers
“BLACK+DECKER has been setting the standard for product design and innovation for over a century,” said Kendall Nohe, Global Head of Home & Lifestyle Product Development for BLACK+DECKER. “The single-serve cocktail maker is one of the first products to launch from our expanded home and lifestyle innovation line, designed to make life easier at home. Bev by BLACK+DECKER allows consumers to mix up a variety of craft cocktails for endless social gatherings. In partnership with Bartesian, we are toasting innovation with the launch of Bev by BLACK+DECKER.”
“Bartesian created the on-demand cocktail experience, and we’re thrilled to introduce more drink enthusiasts to their own at-home personal bartender,” said Ryan Close, Founder & CEO of Bartesian. “Our partnership with BLACK+DECKER will enable us to reach a larger consumer base as we continue to grow this incredibly popular category. This partnership will also make it easier for consumers to purchase Bartesian cocktail capsules in new retail environments across the country. We’re incredibly proud to add a leading brand like BLACK+DECKER to our growing list of successful partners and look forward to continuing to lead the industry in driving innovation in the home cocktail market.”
Conclusion
As far as taste goes, I’m not sure how well the capsules do. Unfortunately, I could not try this machine out myself. From my experience, I would be careful with pre-made mixes for cocktails. If you’re currently thinking about getting such a mixer, may it be from Bartesian or BLACK+DECKER, I’d recommend you to try it out first before you buy one if possible. If that’s not possible for you, maybe you buy it on Amazon or elsewhere where you have good customer service and can return the device in case you can not accept the performance of the capsules at all. The advantage here is that you don’t have to spend time bartending and mixing up cocktails for your guests when you’re hosting your friends and family.
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You can focus on your guests instead and enjoy a good time rather than being busy playing the bartender. If you, however, enjoy the art of mixology, then this might not be the right tool for you. Automation is great for supporting you with dull things, but there is no need to let machines steal the things you enjoy doing. I don’t know about you, but I can’t shake the feeling that the brand BLACK+DECKER is only for tools and home improvement – I am not yet sure if I’m ready for a machine from them that prepares my drinks – but maybe it’s cool. I hope I am able to try this out at some point.
YouTube: Black & Decker Creates Automatic Bartender (Michael Garfield)
Photo credit: All images shown are owned by BLACK+DECKER and were made available for press usage.
Source: BLACK+DECKER press release
