The Bev by Black & Decker "Brings Easy Bartending Home!"
After having experienced our first real vacation in over two years, I must say you can see the effects of inflation everywhere. Never was this more apparent when ordering one’s favorite adult beverage. As is par for the vacation course, we had a few cocktails, and the prices were out of this world. We also found it surprising the quality of each beverage varied drastically from bar to bar. My wife and I marveled at each derivation of Rumrunner every time we ordered it. It is evident that not everyone follows the same playbook.
Enter a device for making adult beverages at home called Bev from well-known manufacturer Black & Decker. Everyone has heard of Keurig and the pod-style coffee packages. Bev takes the same concept and becomes your ease-of-use home bartender. You need only supply the machine with the base spirits like gin, rum, vodka, bourbon, or tequila. With a selection of over 40 types of pods from Bartesian, you won’t have any shortage of drinks to try. Interestingly enough, Bartesian also offers a competing model (pictured below).
Both are similar models using the same pod-style packs, but Bev has some distinguishing features.
The Bev Home Bartender from Black & Decker allows you to use the existing bottles without pouring your preferred liquors into proprietary bottles. The use of existing bottles means you don’t have to invert them when inserting them into the machine as you do with the Bartesian. You can display your preferred liquors which can be attractive in your home bar setting. The only limiting factor is the height and width of the bottle, but the device will easily accommodate standard 750ml bottles. The steel straws (above) insert directly into the bottle openings and will be metered per drink.
The pod is the driving factor with both machines. A bar code on the top of the pod tells the unit how much base alcohol and water to meter with the pod into each drink. The pods are the driving force behind each glass as they are packed with bitters, extracts, juice concentrates, and mixers you would typically have to source separately.
Unlike your neighborhood bars, these “mixologist” machines make a solid promise of drink consistency. You can expect four actual drink strength settings starting with mocktail mode (no alcohol), low, medium, and high. Adjust as you go, and you will see uniformity in each pour.
Conclusion: You are paying for ease of use with this machine and a smaller footprint within your home. It would be fair to say you may have fewer alternate bottles if you switch to this pod system. It is also fair to say you aren’t buying this system because it is less expensive than making these cocktails yourself. Still, it certainly will be cheaper than your local drinking establishment.
Expect this system to make more consistent drinks than most restaurants/bars you frequent. You can be sure the best alcohols are used, and you won’t be paying that premium price. Black and Decker estimated a Bev introduction date of May 2022.
