Most of the cocktail-mixing automatic bartender products we've seen over the years look suitable only for a kitchen counter or home bar ... or a full-blown commercial operation. The original Barsys cocktail machine looks like something that belongs only in an actual bar or restaurant.
The all-new Barsys 360, however, looks more like a piece of high-tech home decor, as comfortable in the living room as it is in the kitchen. Its halo form immerses the glass in a vertical amphitheater of mixology that brings the skills of classic and renegade bartenders into the home ... no tipping required.
The machine is designed to stand out and make a statement as much as it is to streamline Saturday-night drink making. It envelops the glass in a spectacle of lights and precisely measured pours, connecting to a library of cocktail recipes via Barsys' accompanying app.
To get started, the owner pours up to six different liquors and mixers into the individual 30-oz (900-ml) canisters. Using the app, he or she enters those ingredients and is treated to a curated menu of cocktail selections based on the liquid sextet. The increasingly thirsty user taps a selection and lets the 360 create it.
The user can also tweak the recipe, adjusting individual measurements to taste. The Barsys 360 will learn preferences over time to make recommendations.
While the Barsys 2.0 shown below looks like the more impressive robo bartender overall, automatically sliding the glass along as it fires from the various bottles and pods, it will also look like a fish out of water anywhere outside of an actual bar or a college fraternity basement. It'd be comfortable behind a home bar but isn't something we can imagine sliding up next to the toaster without looking (and feeling) like there's a high-proof problem hanging over our everyday life.
So while the Barsys 360 lacks some of the capacity and flair of that older 2.0 design, it brings a taste of that capability within a humble package that disappears away into the background when not in use. And the 360 ducks just below a third of the 2.0's $1,500 price tag.
The Barsys 360 weighs 10 lb (4.5 kg) before one gets to filling it up with all their favorites and stands 17 inches (43 cm) tall, spanning roughly that same 17 inches across. The US$475 contraption is available for preorder now with a 10% deposit, and Barsys plans to begin deliveries in October.
Source: Barsys
