smart home gadgets basically have only one job to do they need to be smart but
inside this massive box i have a gadget that treats you like a complete [ __ ] it sits on
your kitchen countertop and sucks all the joy and creativity out of holiday parties
so get ready to meet the stupidest smart gadget ever
i like a good cocktail you could even call me a cocktail enthusiast
but what happens when a smart home gadget tries to take the cocktail world by storm
well that's what we're going to find out when we open this box
so here we have it it's the keurig drinkworks
before i tell you why i think it's a bad idea let's just make a drink
you can quite accurately call the keurig drinkworks the courage of cocktail making
machines but i call it a bad idea so just like a keurig coffee maker which i actually like a lot
you can stick a cocktail pot in the drink works and it spits out a single serve cocktail on demand
so what makes this such a bad idea well for starters the drinkworks takes all the passion
and soul out of making cocktails at home now if i'm making an old-fashioned with my home bar
i can choose which bourbon or rye i want to use i can get creative with my choice of bitters
i can muddle a fresh orange directly in the glass for just a hot second in my boring dreary life
i'm a mixologist i'm a cocktail making artiste but this isn't how drinkworks actually works
every pod is its own fixed recipe and courage decides what you're going to be drinking damn it
and by my count there are currently only about two dozen cocktails to choose from this is not
variety this is not the spice of life now things get even worse if you care about top shelf liquor
very few of the pods use brand name spirits and even the brand names they use really aren't that
impressive so i did a scan of all the available pods online and the only branded spirits i could
find are gentlemen jack elijah craig haradura and chambord and these appear in very few drinks
and once you actually have the drink works your friends will stop gifting you bottles of premium
liquor so you used to get a bottle of top shelf bourbon every christmas and you look forward to
the surprise the beautiful label the excitement of trying something new but now your friends will be
like here's a four pack of cocktail pods jimmy and i expect you to display this cardboard canister
proudly on your shelf so what makes this thing smart in the first place well the machine reads
a code on every pod and then adds just the right amount of water and carbonation to every drink
and that's pretty much it so you're basically paying for a chilled water dispenser and the price
of entry is pretty damn high for example a four pack of elijah craig old fashion pods is 20 bucks
but i can get an entire bottle of elijah craig at bevmo for 27
and make 16 old fashions of course i have to have some cheap oranges and maraschino cherries on hand
so for a huge per drink markup you get the privilege of having another massive appliance
on your countertop now wouldn't you rather have a sophisticated liquor bottle collection instead
okay let's finally do the taste test and i'm gonna give you my honest unvarnished opinion
i hate to say it but it's it's not a good drink uh it's it's not very booze heavy so it tastes
sort of weak um it has like the tasting notes of an old fashioned i mean honestly i i don't
want to like bag on the drink completely but i could do a lot better with cheap bourbon at home
so i just spent a bunch of time crapping on the couric drinkworks but i do think it has its place
so when i'm traveling i do like seeing that curried coffee maker in my hotel room
and i can see these pods replacing the hotel minibar sure the hotel is going to charge
12 a pod for a massive markup but hey it's convenient right and maybe a little bit smart