The Lazy Drinker Portable Bartender

[divalasvegas]

While channel surfing today I landed on the esteemed Food Network in the middle of a show called “Gotta Get It.” It’s actually not listed by that name on their website but is under the generic category of “Food Network Specials.” I’ve seen several episodes of it but I don’t think it’s become a regularly shown series yet. I think it’s an entertaining show for food gadget geeks like myself which showcases a lot of kitchen and home entertaining gizmos, from super cheap to outrageously expensive. The one that caught my eye in this installment of the show was a product called the Lazy Drinker. It’s a combination portable cooler, alcohol and mixer holder, drink maker/dispenser, and drinks recipe database. With the top of the line model you can attach up to 16 different liquors/mixers and use the included database to dispense mixed drinks using their repertoire of 5,000 recipes. The company says that you can even adjust the amounts used in the pre-programmed recipes or program your own which is great since some of the names of their recipes sound like versions of the endless lists of "tinis" cocktails popular at many bars which usually end up tasting like a combo of Skittles and Everclear.

Very cool concept I thought, but of course since it sounded too good to be true, I checked out the Popular Science website to see what their experience was with this device. Not surprisingly, they had mixed–pun intended –results. After they gave it a work out, pitting it against a real person, the real person came out ahead (not as far ahead as I would have guessed though) creating more subtly tasting drinks in their opinion. They detailed their efforts here. According to the Lazydrinker Website the units run from $550.00 for an 8-valve do-it-yourself (cooler excluded) to a preassembled 16-valve one for $750.00.

So what do you think? Would you purchase this device? If I had money to burn I’d like to have it, albeit one that works consistently, especially when entertaining for a party, cookout or a picnic. I’d probably choose to find some garage gadget guru-computer geek type person, buy the parts myself, and pay him or her put it together for me for a lot less money since among the glitches Popular Mechanics found was the thing’s inability to make my favorite cocktail, the Manhattan!

Timidly awaiting the slings, arrows and flames of our resident eG old-school cocktail purists.

[thirtyoneknots]

Sounds interesting, but it's not for me. I can't speak for others, but for me half the enjoyment of a cocktail is the making of it, the adapting of recipes to my taste and acreful balancing of sugars, acids, and aromatics to create something unique. Much like cooking, except that it is purely recreational, whereas cooking is for sustenance as well (some might say cocktail are medicinal, too--no disagreement here . Take away the hands-on factor from cocktails, and it's little different than wine. I love wine dearly, but it's such a passive experience, whereas one can be active in regards to their cocktail, which is what makes it exciting. It's nearly 4 am and I think I'm mostly rambling now, but you get the idea. To remove my interaction from the cocktail process is to remove a significant amount of the enjoyment I get from it.

-Andy