Tag: wine

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Food and Beverage

With the Alchema and fruit, it’s always wine o’clock

There’s nothing quite like the revitalizing, crisp taste of a freshly made drink. The problem lies in having the right equipment and time available to create these drinks. While home brewed beer is possible, it’s a lengthy and involved process that most won’t want to get into.

Luckily, when it comes to cider, a jug of store bought fruity goodness isn’t the only choice. With the Alchema, anyone is able to create fresh cider by following a pretty straightforward process. The airtight yet sleekly designed contraption first sanitizes the jug. After, users can throw in their favorite fruits and other ingredients along with packets of yeast in order to begin the fermentation process. In one to two weeks, a pitcher of certified delicious cider is ready for a user’s next get-together. Cider isn’t the only thing Alchema can create. Give it just a week and it can cook up some mead. If time is on your side, throw in some grapes and wait 16 weeks for the ultimate in sophistication: wine.

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Food and Beverage

Brewski lets you create signature beer, wine or cider at home

Creating one’s own drinks can make for a great conversation starter at a party or when entertaining at home. And Brewski allows those who enjoy exercising their creative muscles in this area the opportunity to make beer, wine or cider and flavor it to personal tastes.

The drink creation station makes about 2.5 gallons at a time (or 30 standard beer bottles) and stores easily on a shelf or convenient counter space. Brewski offers video tutorials that explain how to create beer using the product and included brewing kit, or it is compatible with other brewing kits. Beer bottles with non-twist tops can be washed, refilled and recapped with the bottle capper.

Interested backers might also want to check out Brewie, a similar home-brewing product, but one that doesn’t offer wine and cider like the Brewski does. This campaign seeks to raise $150,000 NZD (~$112,000 USD) on Kickstarter. Early bird backers get one product for $369 (~$275 USD) with an expected delivery of July 2015.

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Food and Beverage

Spot-Not ensures your wine glasses are clear, saves you cheap detergent embarrassment

When hosting a dinner party or holiday get-together, glassware with water spots can be an embarrassment at an elegant soiree. That’s why the Spot-Not drying system was created. The glassware dryer has a multi-petal core that fits into any size wine glass. A microfiber towel dries up to 15 glasses and can be washed and reused. The magnetic decanter dryer includes a drying cloth with two embedded magnets for conforming to the inside of the decanter, and a drying mitt with embedded magnets for the outside. As the outside drying mitt is moved around, so is the inside drying cloth.

Spot-Not may also have a place in the restaurant industry because countless servers often have to spend lots of time polishing glasses for patrons. Wine-loving backers might also want to check out the Sonic Decanter campaign. This campaign seeks to raise $8,000 CAD (~$7,000 USD). Early bird backers get the complete system for $40 CAD (~$35 USD) with an expected delivery of January 2015.

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Food and Beverage

Vini wine topper measures PH, temperature to check if wine is fine

Corked and sealed wine lasts forever. However, as soon as it’s unsealed, it begins to go bad. The only way to tell if it’s bad is to taste it. While it’s not as bad as spoiled milk, that sour taste can still put one off of wine entirely for the night.

Vini never wants a bad bottle of wine to be tasted ever again. This digital monitor tests wine to figure out if it’s still good to drink. Looking like a meat thermometer, place Vini in the wine and push the button. First, it’ll display the wine’s temperature. With another tap of the button, it will show its pH level. To the layman, this information may not mean much, but Vini comes with a chart to help interpret the data. In addition, Vini is a bottle stopper, so it serves more than just to taste wine for you.

For wine enthusiasts, Vini is an extremely useful device. This product certainly has potential in the market because those who love wine, really love wine and will do anything for the perfect glass. Backers can have their own for $40 CAD (~$35 USD) for delivery in July 2015. Vini is looking to raise $40,000 CAD (~$35,000 USD)  on Kickstarter.

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Food and Beverage

Bluetooth-equipped Sonic Decanter lets you Chardonnay your way

Every wine connoisseur knows that wine must breathe before it is served. Decanting is a must for serving a great beverage. Now decanting just got a little bit smarter with the Sonic Decanter. This product decants your wine using water and ultrasound. To set how long it runs for, use the accompanying smartphone app. Simply fill it with two cups of water, uncork the bottle and place it in the decanter pushing the button to activate. According to the campaign, this technique makes your wine, whether red, white or somewhere in the middle, positively delectable. The science behind it all is a bit complicated, but a full explanation can be found on the campaign.

While Sonic Decanter is surely one of those frivolous wine accessories, its claimed capabilities may be too much for the fanatic wine-o to resist. The accompanying app is a nice touch too, allowing the user to adjust times based on what kind of wine they’re about to drink. One smart wine preparer will cost backers a donation of $199 for delivery in May 2015. Sonic Decanter is hoping to raise $85,000 with the help of Kickstarter.

Categories
Food and Beverage

Wine condom stops bottles, enables mirth control

The Premise. Ever had to transport a bottle of wine that was already open even though that’s against the law in a lot of places? Or have a problem with your wine stopper making your wine bottle too tall for the fridge?

The Product. Wine condoms are small, black, rubber instruments  designed to be rolled over the top of an open wine bottle and keep the wine fresh and from spilling in transport. To anyone in the restaurant industry, they look just like one of the finger cots they give you when you cut your digits and slap on a Band-Aid. But, sure, wine condom.

The Pitch. Hmm, where to start? Well, the video starts off with handsome young inventor Mitchell Strahan explaining why wine condoms only work for wine and not champagne. See, when you apply the wine condom to champagne, the carbonated gasses (with a little help from a vigorous shake or two) will cause the wine condom to blow off. Okay dude — we get it. The video then cuts to a closeup of Strahan and his girlfriend, where he flutters his light blue eyes and tells the story of his mother bringing over an open bottle wrapped in cling film and rubber bands and then spends about a minute on a blooper reel where he goes off on a tangent, giggles, and talks to someone off-camera. It’s all very cute if you go in for that kind of pitch.

The Perks. The young man seems to be aware of how much people would be willing to pay for his product — donors get a pack of ten for $7, 25 for $14. After that, he’s got a fair amount of swag — sunglasses, shirts, hats, and even signed photos of himself (yes, really — he’s pretty, sure, but goodness!). Each level-up includes all of the previous, so donors can potentially end up with a good bit of Mitch-merch.

The Potential. The wine condom serves a useful purpose and is easily stored but, much to the chagrin of double entendre fans, faces an uphill battle against default capping measures. Most people who open wine can either pop the cork back in, screw on the screw cap, or use a wine stopper. On the other hand, we could see a lot of jokes being made while applying the Wine Condom, especially after a few glasses have been refilled.