This ‘Project Gutenberg’ is for booze, not books

By Drew Prindle January 30, 2014

pernod ricards project gutenberg smartphone controlled cocktail mixer ricard — Image used with permission by copyright holder

Apparently, French distillery Pernod Ricard doesn’t care that there’s already such a thing as Project Gutenberg. In a bold move, the company (who’s best known as the maker of Absolut vodka, Beefeater gin, and Jameson whiskey) went ahead and made its own Project Gutenberg. Oddly enough, Pernod’s project involves books too, but instead of being filled with literature, these “books” are full of liquor.

In a nutshell, Pernod’s Project Gutenberg is a modular, app-controlled cocktail dispenser system that uses removable book-shaped containers to dish out drinks. To use it, just pop open the app and pick your poison – the app will guide you through the rest of the mixing process. Each book has a little spout on the front, and will dispense the perfect amount of booze for the particular drink you’ve chosen, and also offer mixing tips for more complicated recipes.

Related: Best Cocktail Mixer

Automated bartender machines like this definitely aren’t a new thing, and while this one clearly isn’t the most advanced contraption ever conceived, it differs from other systems in the way that you refill it. Instead of heading over to the liquor store to pick up more hooch, the Project Gutenberg app allows you to order refills through the mail. The idea behind the book-like shape of the liquor containers seems to be that, with a sturdier, more durable design, they can be shipped to your house more easily, thus saving you from all those time-consuming trips to the booze market.

It’s a decent idea, and might be appealing to certain consumers, but it does come with one big drawback. Based on the video below, we gathered that the Project Gutenberg system limits your choices of booze to only the ones made by Pernod Ricard. Don’t get us wrong, we love Beefeater and Jameson as much as the next spirits enthusiast, but we also like to mix things up every so often, and being stuck with the the same selection of liquor is a big drawback.

At this point, Project Gutenberg isn’t yet available for purchase or pre-order, but Pernod is working to bring the device to market sometime later this year. Find out more here.

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Former Digital Trends Contributor

Drew Prindle is an award-winning writer, editor, and storyteller who currently serves as Senior Features Editor for Digital…

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