British Airways Gets an AI-Powered Cocktail Mixer

If you find yourself in the British Airways Lounge in San Francisco International or Newark Liberty, you’ll have a chance to try out British Airways’ newest addition to its lounge staff: Barsys, an AI-powered cocktail mixer. And, since British Airways is the first UK airline to give Barsys a try, you’ll be one of the first to have a drink served to you via robot. But, you’ll only have until March 2020 when the trial ends. In the meantime…

What Does an AI-Powered Cocktail Mixer Do?

Well, for starters, it mixes drinks. Four bottles go up top–not necessarily these bottles, as this is a product photo from Barsys itself and not British Airways–then you tell Barsys what you’d like by tapping a choice on the interface. Give it a glass, and Barsys will take care of the rest and dispense your cocktail in under 45 seconds.

The “AI” part of the cocktail mixer is its ability to check and correct its measurements of alcohol and mix to make sure that your drink has the perfect robot proportions.

What Kind of Drinks Can It Make?

If the words “perfect proportions” just made you wince, or if you define “martini” as a glass filled with vodka while sitting near a bottle of vermouth, you’ll be better off heading to the bartender. But, the Barsys may make the line a little bit shorter.

For anyone just looking for a simple rum and coke, the Barsys is an entertaining way to get it. It can make up to 30 different drinks depending on the bottles up top. While no official drink list has been released, it will include each lounge’s locally-inspired cocktails: the Silicon Galle and Echo- Whisky- Romeo.

Robots Are Pretty Cool

I like a heavy-handed pour as much as the next frequent-flyer, but there’s always something kind of fun about robots in the lounge. I don’t necessarily have to need pancakes at the Star Alliance lounge at LAX to stand in a short line to watch a robot 3D print three tiny ones for me in 90 seconds. A robot bartender sounds like it will be more fun the more you use it and, not that we recommend overserving yourself, less likely than a human bartender to make you feel weird about your third gin and tonic.

And, whatever you order, you’ll likely be able to taste the possibilities of the great robot-bartender future where the internet’s the limit. Said one FlyerTalker about the news, “I am now imagining a Coke Freestyle machine loaded with various spirits and mixers that you can add together as you wish, rather than ‘choose from the menu.’ I can make it cloud-enabled to connect to the Webtender for drink recipes. What could possibly go wrong? hic”

Most of the Time

But, having said that, don’t be terribly surprised if your drinking date with your Barsys has a few hiccups. As one FlyerTalker pointed out, the reviews for the Barsys aren’t all great. While it can make “a wide variety of cocktails from a large database of recipes. Barsys will pour proper proportions quickly and look good doing it.” It can be a little glitchy, and when it glitches, it can lose track of your ingredients. Sometimes the app crashes and, it’s limited to deeply uncomplicated drinks because it can’t “shake your cocktail or add extras like sugar, garnishes or bitters.

But, to be fair, those reviews are for the personal Barsys and we’re sure the ones in the British Airways lounge will have more of the kinks worked out. And if you find yourself in a British Airways lounge in SFO or EWR, be sure to pop into this forum thread and tell us all about it.