Keurig Dr. Pepper and Anheuser-Busch have joined forces to create Drinkworks. Basically, it's a boozy Keurig.
The Drinkworks Home Bar will first be launched as part of a pilot program. The pod-based personal bartender will be available only in St. Louis, Missouri through online retailers and a few brick-and-mortar stores.
The Home Bar is designed to prepare cocktails, brews and ciders, you just insert the pod with your desired flavor and the machine calculates the amount of water and carbonation to add based on each proprietary recipe. Really, it's everything our society needs, more pod-based technology.
The initial offering will include 24 different recipes crafted by in-house Drinkworks mixologists and beverage scientists. The Classic Collection includes popular drinks such as the Daiquiri, Cosmopolitan, Gin & Tonic, Long Island Iced Tea, Mojito, Moscow Mule, Old Fashioned and White Russian.
The Paradise Collection has Mai Tais and Margaritas, and the Brews include pods to make Bass Ale, Beck's and even a Stella Artois Cidre that is actually 17.3% alcohol by volume if you want to crush the pre-mixed pod — it’s about 4.3% after the drink maker mixes it together.
Brew/mixing time will vary. For example, a margarita will take 25 seconds to create while a a Moscow mule will take about a minute.
The Home Bar will not be a cheap endeavor as packs of four pods will retail for about $16 — or $4/drink, which wouldn’t be too bad if you weren’t also including the appliance, which starts at $300 as well as other necessary accessories like CO2 cartridges ($15), cleaning tablets ($8) and water filters ($9). So, the first four drinks will run about $87 each, but the more you drink, the more you save.
Drinkworks is headquartered near Boston and also runs an experimental distillery and production center in Williston, VT. The company is currently hiring as well, with positions posted for a production coordinator, operator and a design engineer, in-case you want to get in on the ground level of this rocket ship to success.
According to Nathaniel Davis, CEO and head of this operation, the appliance was created to make “the entire drinking experience ... more remarkable." Well, if anything, he made it easier to drink fancier, more expensive drinks in the dark.
Pod fever is back, but I’ll be the first to say it, those pods look like baby food jars.
