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What if you could have alcoholic drinks instead of coffee? The Drinkworks Home Bar is a $300 cocktail-making machine that turns disposable Pods into cold beverages. Three weeks ago, the venture was shut down by both Keurig and Anheuser-Busch, who appointed a settlement administrator to offer refunds. Which leaves a perfect space in the market for a competitor to step in.
The $300 Black + Decker Bev is coming this spring and it might be the ugliest robot bartender yet. It looks like a low-end Keurig, only with five straws to suck the alcohol out of five standard 750ml liquor bottles of your choice. No need for custom bottles, no need to turn the bottles upside-down, and potentially make a mess.
You fill the water container, pop in a Pod containing the juices and bitters, and hit a button to make your drink stronger. Then, an internal pump draws out digitally measured quantities of each liquid, uses pressure to shove them into the capsule and mix them, valves direct excess liquor back to each bottle uncontaminated, the drink pours into your glass, and the whole system flushes the pipes with air and water to clean itself The company says the process takes less than 30 seconds. The machine scans a basic barcode to identify the capsule.
Stanley Black & Decker is teaming up with Bartesian and using their existing Pods, which cost $15 for a pack of six, each good for a year. The current Bartesian machine is $50 more expensive than the Bev. Black+Decker is working with Bartesian to explore options for bringing the at- home craft cocktail experience to additional markets around the world.
Newgadgets.de got a quick look at the Bev on the show floor, and you can watch it below.
The company says that the Bev has a party mode with LEDs that light up the bottles, but it does not have a remote control.
