2017 is going to be the year of never leaving your home. Want to see a movie? Order it on Netflix from your couch. Want a coffee from Starbucks? Brew a fresh cup using the Keurig machine in your kitchen. Want a gourmet meal? Have Blue Apron send you all the ingredients right to your front door. Need new clothes? Order them with Amazon Prime and receive them in as little as 48 hours. And we have yet another reason for you to never leave your home: the parent companies of Keurig and Budweiser want to make an “in-home alcohol drink system.” That’s right, brewing a beer is now as easy as pushing a button.
There are limited details that have been released about the new partnership between Anheuser-Busch InBev and Keurig Green Mountain, Inc. What has been publicized is that this innovative product will target “the realm of the full adult beverage category, including beer, spirits, cocktails and mixers.” It will draw on the technology that Keurig developed with Coca-Cola Co. for it’s failed “Kold” product. (For those who don’t know, this large, $369 machine was a countertop device that made sodas and mixers on demand but was withdrawn from the market last summer following dismal sales).
Although Kold was a big ole’ fail, the technology, gas-filled beads called “Karbonators,” was a success. These beads allowed customers to make their drinks fizzy without bulky carbon dioxide canisters. Resurrecting the Karbonator innovation might also help Keurig and Coca-Cola Co. recoup some of the $1 billion-plus they spent developing those little beads.
Just think: You’re trying to have yourself a Sunday Funday, but you’re still a little tipsy from the night before. You finished off the last of your booze at 2am (who’s smart idea was that?) and driving to the liquor store probably isn’t a safe bet. Now you can make a crisp Bud Light or a fresh glass of AB InBev’s SpikedSeltzer right in your own kitchen! Cheers to that!
Source: Boston Globe