Long waits before you get your cocktails ready and served may become a thing of the past, thanks to a new machine that dispenses icy cocktails at speed from a bar tap.
Mixing the cocktails, which includes laboriously crushing and blending the ice for each sweet and slushy drink, means it can take ages before you get served. But not anymore.
Working with the UK-based invention company Cambridge Consultants, Diageo has unveiled the machine as the solution to the problem, reports
New Scientist
.
It might sound like a simple solution to the boozy problem, but designing the new speedy cocktail dispenser was surprisingly tricky, said Mark Harrison, technical director of Diageo, the major league drinks industry firm.
The problem lies with the pipes. As the slushy drink flows through the dispensing machine's chilled pipework, it freezes solid to cause a blockage. Cambridge Consultants' solution lies in "trade secrets", patents and plastic chemistry, said the firm's programme director, Eric Wilkinson.
The problem lies with the pipes. As the slushy drink flows through the dispensing machine's chilled pipework, it freezes solid to cause a blockage. Cambridge Consultants' solution lies in "trade secrets", patents and plastic chemistry, said the firm's programme director, Eric Wilkinson.
The company will only say that the plastic chosen for the piping encourages the ice to nucleate in suspension, rather than solidly jamming the cocktail cooling hose.
It was tired at the Cambridge Consultant's UK headquarters-the machine can serve an icy drink every 30 seconds.
"Even a big group of, say, 15 friends can get served in a reasonable amount of time. But I''m a scientist so I don''t have 15 friends," said Wilkinson.