This week, Norwegian company, Quenched, launched a crowdfunding campaign for its smart-cocktail kit. Dubbed Q-Kit, the all-in-one cocktail set combines physical bartending tools with software, making it easier for at-home mixologists to create the kinds of drinks bars charge $17 for.
There are many at-home bar kits on the market right now, from Keurig’s countertop machine, which is basically cocktail mixes in pods, to Barsy’s automated cocktail maker, which lets you press a button to get a cocktail. And we’d be remiss not to mention on-demand-cocktail maker Bartesian, which start shipping next month.
But mixology is one of those things where you don’t necessarily want tech to take care of the whole job because understanding what “shaken not stirred” actually means and knowing how to pair different ingredients together can be, well, just, pun totally intended, good Old Fashioned fun.
As of now, though, there aren’t a lot of professional-grade cocktail kits out there that also give you access to easy-to-use recipes. Providing that was the driving motivation for founder Kai Myhre when he got the idea for Quenched back in 2017. On a business trip to Spain at the time, he ordered, according to a video on the Indiegogo page, “the most wonderful mojito I had ever tasted”
But recreating that proved a challenge: “Searching online for tools, all I could find were insufficient tool kits with tiny ice containers, and when searching for online recipes I often found them inaccurate [and] difficult to understand and follow.” Myhre decided to do something about that, by combining proper bartending tools with ample recipes and instructions, and bundling them together in one package.
The resulting Q-Kit, which launched on Tuesday and is currently available to back via Indiegogo, comes with all the tools a professional bartender would use, from a three-piece shaker to a julep strainer to a muddler (read the full tool list here). The tools come in a box that doubles as an ice-chest, and also makes the kit portable.
One the software side of things, users get access to the Q-Kit app upon purchase of a kit, and includes pictures, ingredient lists, and step-by-step videos on how to mix drinks properly:
The crowdfunding effort may have launched just a few days ago, but Quenched as already exceeded its $15,000 goal, which just goes to show you how many folks dream of becoming at-home mixologists. There’s still a month left to back the project, and those who do will get their Q-Kits for $245 as opposed to the $395 they’ll retail for once they hit shelves. Kits are expected to ship in September 2019.