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The Spoon

Daily news and analysis about the food tech revolution

cocktail machine

Bartesian Raises $20M Series A for its Countertop Cocktail Appliance

Bartesian, which makes a pod-based countertop cocktail appliance, announced today that it has raised a $20 million Series A round of funding. The round was led by Cleveland Avenue, LLC, with participation from Stanley Ventures.

The Bartesian device has cannisters that you fill up with liquor such as tequila, vodka or rum, which it then mixes with a variety pods that contain different flavorings, juices and bitters. Place a glass underneath and push a button and Bartesian dispenses a perfectly mixed cocktail.

By next-gen kitchen appliance standards, Bartesian is a downright old timer. The product launched on Kickstarter back in 2015, where it raised more than $115,000. In 2018, Bartesian decided that it was in the drink business and not the hardware business and licensed manufacturing to Hamilton Beach. The first units started shipping to Kickstarter backers later that year and became more widely available at retail in December of 2019.

According to today’s funding announcement, the Bartesian system has served more than five million cocktails, experienced 975 percent year-over-year revenue growth in 2020, and grew its subscriber base 30x compared to March 2020.

Without actual numbers, those stats aren’t super helpful in determining the actual success of Bartesian, and one has to wonder how much the pandemic helped boost interest and use in the Bartesian. With bars and restaurants closed and people relegated to their homes throughout much of last year, having a robot bartender like Bartesian on your counter made a lot of sense. With vaccination rates accelerating, bars and restaurants re-opening, and people being able to once again hangout in person, will consumers still want a home drink system?

Ryan Close, Founder and CEO of Bartesian told me by phone this week that while his company did get a COVID bump, it was already experiencing triple growth rates prior to the pandemic (they got off to a nice start by being an Oprah pick in the winter of 2019). Close said that the company has generated more sales in the first quarter of 2021, than it did during the first half of 2020.

The competitive landscape has also changed for Bartesian over the past couple of years. Drinkworks, which is a joint-venture between Keurig Dr Pepper and Anheuser-Busch InBev, and is also a pod-based drink machine, has been rolling out to different states across the country throughout the past year. And Barsys, which foresakes the pods for straight bottle attachments, is another option for the automated cocktail curious.

The one thing going for pod-based setups like Bartesian and Drinkworks, however, is the ability for people to have a full bar in their homes, without a collection of bottles taking up a lot of space. It’s much easier to store a bunch of flavor pods than a variety of juices, bitters and other drink ingredients. Plus, when people do have parties again, guests can easily make themselves a variety of cocktails with little to no mess.

With its new funding, Bartesian says that it will accelerate its growth domestically and internationally, scale up its production and expand its team. One of the investors, Stanley Ventures, is the venture arm of hardware company Stanley Black and Decker, which, Close said, is looking to bring Bartesian to Europe.

Bartesian also announced today actor Mila Kunis has joined the company’s board of advisors to provide guidance on brand strategy and growth.

Drinkworks Launches Beer Pods for its Home Cocktail Machine

In this time of social distancing, the question of whether or not to go out for a beer with friends is suddenly fraught with serious implications, or being banned outright. And while we would never suggest you drink alone, Drinkworks announced today that its cocktail machine can now make beer in the comfort of your home.

Drinkworks, which is a joint-venture between Keurig Dr Pepper and Anheuser-Busch InBev, partnered with Los Angeles-based Golden Road Brewing to create beer pods. Pop the pod into the Drinkmaker, push a button and carbonated beer comes out (just be sure to tilt the glass properly as it pours).

I can already see purists out there crinkling their face at the idea of a pod ingredients mixing with water to make beer. But I spoke with Victor Novak, Brewmaster at Golden Road, by phone recently, and he insists that there really isn’t a difference. Golden Road is making beer as it normally does and handing it off to Drinkworks, which then freeze distills it, removing the water and leaving the beer-y concentrate complete with alcohol. This new liquid goes into the pod which pops into the machine (though unlike other Drinkworks pods, the company suggests you keep the beer pods chilled).

Despite all this, there are probably a lot of skeptics out there. Even if it does taste like draught beer, the process may seem overly complicated for a drink you can pick up at any corner store. But Drinkworks is aiming for a different kind of convenience. Sure, you can pick up a half-rack, but how many can you store in your fridge? What if you want a variety of different beers? How many different six-packs can the average person keep?

By going with the pods, Drinkworks reasons, they reduce the footprint of beer. So people can keep more beer, and more varieties of beer, without taking up too much room. It’s the same thesis behind Drinkworks’ cocktail offerings. Instead of having to buy and store big bottles of booze, shrink the complete cocktail down into a pod and throw a party that can accommodate all kinds of tastes (just keep the party small, for now).

The biggest hurdle to most people experiencing this pod-based brew is availability. Drinkworks is in the middle of a slow roll-out and its machine ($299) is only available in California, Missouri, Florida, Pennsylvania, Illinois, Massachusetts, and New York thus far.

Each beer pod makes a 14oz. drink and is being sold in a variety four-pack of wheat brews: Mango Wheat, Blood Orange Wheat, Pineapple Apricot Wheat and Strawberry Guava Wheat. Four-packs retail for $12.99, which is more than a lot of six-packs will run you, but they will take up a lot less space.

With the addition of beermaking, Drinkworks is separating itself from other home cocktail machines out there like the Bartesian and the Barsys, which can only make mixed drinks. The question now is whether people will pony up for pods of beer. Then again, given the times we live in, you can stockpile a lot more pods of beer than bottles.