Bartesian Professional Cocktail Machine, 5 Premium Glass Bottles, 55306

Product Information

Seemingly inexpensive, painted plastic that all too easily can scratch and buff given the high retail price. Lemon Drop - Taste exactly like the first legal drink you had on your 21st birthday. Super sweet and tart, so I prefer to make this as a shot. The strong setting makes 4-5 shots. A real crowd pleaser - 'Who wants a lemon drop?'...and the crowd goes wild! Obviously, if you’re a master mixologist and your home bar looks like Tom Cruise should be dancing around and flipping bottles into the air, then this product probably isn’t for you, just like how if you’re a coffee snob—er, connoisseur, sorry—who needs organic, single-origin washed coffee from Ethiopia every morning, you probably aren’t using the Keurig. But if you’re a casual chiller who just likes a margarita or old fashioned at the end of the day, or you’re someone who likes to serve up drinks to the homies on the weekend without having to clean bar tools, the Bartesian can be a very useful asset. UPDATE: After a few family gatherings, the unanimous favorites are Rum Breeze, Sex on the Beach, Margarita, Long Island, and Whiskey Sour. Does it makes sense for you financially? You need to figure that out. But it’s like having a bartender at home.

Sex on the Beach- Another fruity but dangerous favorite. I primarily taste cranberry, peach and pineapple in this one. This pod makes a substantial drink. Bartesian sent me several different drink pods for testing. The pods are largely sugar-based, with natural flavors. This is reassuring, as I was a little worried the syrups might be corn-based or otherwise laden with artificial flavoring. The cosmopolitan pods use cranberry juice concentrate, the margarita pods use lime juice concentrate, the rum breeze pods use pineapple juice concentrate, and there's not a hint of corn syrup to be found anywhere. Sure, it isn’t fresh-squeezed juice, but these are shelf-stable pods. Northside - A surprising favorite. Lemon and lime flavored drink without being overly sweet. Super refreshing summer vodka drink. Produces a small - medium drink output. Old Fashioned - All I can taste is whiskey, but a hint of citrus does make it smoother. Not my favorite, but I'm not a fan of this drink anyway. Makes a tiny drink, but sounds about right for this one.The water container is integrated into the machine and not one of the glass containers. It's a bit awkward that the water is filled in a gray painted plastic container and not a clear one, making it easier to view the water level. In future generations, I would like to see Bartesian replace the painted plastic for either a glass container or clear plastic one and potentially include a filter. The pod area. The pods work like a Keurig machine, where it punches a whole into it. It also reads a bar code on top of the pod to know how to mix it. Water can splash in the pod area and make it so the reader cannot read the bar code. This will especially happen when you do a cleaning cycle so you need to also manually wipe the bar code reader area. The way the pods are punctured is not consistent. Sometimes the puncture will have the drink spitting out like a fountain all over the place. This has nothing to do with the device being cleaned (as suggested in the manual). Because of these, regardless of the glass suggestion for the drink, I always use a tall glass to minimize potential randomness of when the pod is not punctured the expected way. Some drinks require the rum glass canister to be installed versus the gin canister. Swapping these ALWAYS results in some spillage of liquid as you remove one canister from the base and insert another. If you take care while making the swap, you can easily minimize the mess.

To clean the Bartesian, wipe down the machine with a damp cloth. Remove the capsule holder, water container, spirit reservoirs and drip tray from the machine, wash with warm, soapy water and allow to dry before replacing. There is also a “Rinse/Clean” setting on the machine that you can run if you haven’t used your Bartesian in a while. If you are reading this review, you likely already understand what this product is. With that, I won't describe the function of the product but focus on my year with the device. Yuletide Hurricane - Also needs to be a year round drink. It tastes like topical Hawaiian punch (for adults). Lots of orange flavor - if you don't like orange or citrus then this is not the drink for you. It has edible glitter which makes this drink visually beautiful. VERY SWEET - made on strong always to balance the sweet. Love!

Final Verdict

A pro tip? Choose your liquors wisely. With a spot for vodka, tequila, rum and whiskey (and an extra bottle for gin), I chose the spirits of my choice, though some were better suited for drink-making than others. So, overall, it's a great product in theory. I've wasted pods from them spraying all over - without any indication Bart is fixing that. I've had to clean "pod juice" off of other pods because they arrive broken. I've had to go hunting throughout my house looking for a small silicon washer because one fell off which shouldn't. Every week, I clean the capsule holder and drip tray under hot, soapy water. The capsule holder is easily removable—just make sure to “pop” it up from the bottom to avoid poking yourself with the puncture needle on the inside. It’s also important to clean the water reservoir when it’s empty. I wipe the rest of the machine down with a microfiber cloth. When it comes time to refill the liquor reservoirs, I will definitely clean them with warm, soapy water before refilling. FAQ Is the Bartesian machine worth it? There is a bit of splashing depending on the cup and ice, but I wiped those drops off easily with water and a cloth. I threw the drip mat and liquor canisters through the dishwasher after multiple uses, though full descaling is recommended especially if you’re not filling the machine with filtered water. The cleaning process is similar to how to descale a kettle. Bartesian Duet review: Drink selection and taste

Capsules are easy to insert and use... just make sure to have a glass already beneath the dispenser since some of the capsule liquid will most likely spill out a bit before the machine begins to make your beverage. Mint Julip - Tastes like toothpaste. If you're a fan of mint, or Mojito-like drinks then this one is for you. Decent drink output, but threw it away. Since 1982, PCMag has tested and rated thousands of products to help you make better buying decisions. See how we test. The machine is not smart enough on its own, without human interaction, to know if you have inserted the correct alcohol container into the correct position. The 4 slots on the base are as follows: Rum/Gin, Vodka, Tequila and Whisky. Depending on capsule inserted, the machine will pump liquid from the correct container. When a Rum or Gin based capsule is inserted, the machine prompts you to confirm if you have either the required Rum or Gin. This is a perfect opportunity for the lids to potentially house RFID sensors or some other tech for the machine to auto detect the proper container. For starters, this is my "second" Bartesian. The first one was RMA'd. The first one I had would leak, and then it would leak thought he device and pool underneath. It stained my granite countertop. The replacement has not leaked in that manner so far, but I still keep paper towels under the device.Rum Breeze - My absolute favorite!! Fruity, refreshing, but dangerous. It doesn't taste 'strong' (even on the strong setting), but this sure does sneak up on you!). This drink has a strong coconut flavor, with hints of strawberry. I go through these pods like water. YUM!! This pod makes a substantial drink. UPDATE: Holiday 2020 Collection. I was looking forward to new flavors (the Apple Pie is incredible), but disappointed to see the rest of the collection is basically recycled drinks that I don't really care for. When you want to clean the Drinkworks machine, you can do so by removing the pod basket, water container and drip tray and washing them with warm, soapy water. Every so often, wipe the outside of the machine down with a damp cloth and run a cleaning cycle with the included cleaning tabs. If you forget to clean your device, the machine will prompt you to run a cleaning cycle. Reception? To date, I haven’t found anyone yet that has NOT liked it. Some admit candidly “I didn’t think I was going to like it this much”. In addition to the two liquor wells, the Duet has a water basin. I noticed in the original Bartesian that water goes stale after a few hours. But the Duet’s basin looks more like one you’d find in a Keurig machine, with a complete seal that keeps water fresh for longer. Water is needed to dilute the alcohol and mixer concentrate in the pods, so I found this improvement important. Bartesian Duet review: How it works