Retro cocktail ‘computer’ seeks funding

A retro cocktail contraption, that offers drinks recipes based on the ingredients you have at home, has been launched on crowdfunding site Kickstarter with the aim of raising the funds needed to put it into production.

Inspired by vintage punch card computers the cocktail computer is a brand new invention, despite it looking like something left over from a 50s diner. It works by asking users to select three ingredients by popping “cocktail pickers” into the holes and lift the lid to reveal their classic cocktail options.

Designer Lily Szajnberg came up with the idea after getting fed up with having to trawl the internet or dig through cocktail books to find the right recipe when the urge to shake up a cocktail called.

“The Internet has millions of recipes based on the ingredients I have, but they aren’t reliably curated, and I don’t want to spend my evenings glued to a screen sifting through millions of results for ‘gin’ and ‘lemon’ cocktails”, said Szainberg launching the product on Kickstarter. “What I discovered from countless evenings scouring the Internet and studying my cocktail books, is that almost every popular or classic cocktail can be created with just 24 ingredients.”

The machine includes more than 100 splash-proof recipe cards which can be swapped out in the future as updates are released, and the 24 ingredients needed to be able to make any one of the cocktails featured.

Szajnberg is seeking US$50,000 to launch her invention, and has already achieved $7,197 from 110 backers with 25 days to go.