Monday, October 14, 2013

Gheorghe: The Nanobrewery

In response to yesterday's report on the Federal Government's role in delaying the distribution of craft beer to a thirsty market, a patriotic American asked a simple question freighted with import. "Maybe it's possible for people to brew, sell, buy, and drink beer without having to ask permission from our bureaucratic betters?", he wondered.

Libertarians, beer-drinkers, and all who chafe at the heavy yoke of bureaucracy, rejoice, for salvation beckons. A team led by former Microsoft exec Bill Mitchell (at this point, aren't we all former Microsoft execs) is on the verge of marketing the PicoBrew Zymatic, "an automatic beer brewing appliance that can create an endless stream of high-quality beers".

Mitchell, whose grandfather invented Tang and Pop Rocks (!), and his brother are avid homebrewers. They started PicoBrew in 2010, frustrated with the inconsistency inherent in the home brewing process, as well as the highly labor-intensive nature of it. Their objective: create the brewer's version of the breadmaker or espresso machine.

The result is both simple to use (and more importantly, clean) and sophisticated enough to enable users to consistently recreate recipes used by the pioneers of the craft brew scene or experiment with their own. The touchscreen-controlled brewing process takes an hour, and according to PicoBrew, beer is ready to drink as soon as five days after brewing.



The PicoBrew team's Kickstarter campaign has yielded more than twice as much funding as required, and the funds will be used to initiate final production activities. I'll buy the machine, but someone else is responsible for designing the labels. And we'll need someone to distract the Feds while we ship the results to our community members outside the DC area. Probably gonna want a lawyer involved, too. I think we've got that covered.

42 comments:

  1. in answer to the teej's question from the previous thread, i conked out after drew grounded out to lead off the 8th. awoke to pandemonium. good times.

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  2. the picture on the front page of the boston globe sports page is an instant classic.

    pic.twitter.com/V0Cy0NCCNx

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  3. The one of Shaughnessy in the bottom right?

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  4. yes. that's a handsome dude.

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  5. cross-platform smell-marketing with sentence of dave today.

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  6. Florida's starting tailback, Matt Jones, is out for the year. That's seven players (5 starters) out for the year. I'm going to go cry now.

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  7. I finally watched this video. Dude at the end is really really excited about individualized beers.

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  8. finally? hell, any video here that gets watched at all is a win in my book. i just assume people go straight to the comments.

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  9. Wow. Every once in a while I make a painful mistake and scroll through (usually anonymous) user comments on a website. This time it was the Washington Post's site for a blurb about the Redskins' name conundrum. Consider my faith in my fellow human and citizen bottomed out. Bravado and sheer stupefying ignorance. The swagger of misinformed, misguided morons who won't post their name while hurling thinly veiled bigotry towards their fellow Americans. I won't make this mistake again soon. And I can only hope these people stop rooting for our team when the name change happens.

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  10. Clarence...people different from me in appearance, belief, ethnicity, religion or social standing are scary, and they must be destroyed.

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  11. The comments on WashPo articles are atrocious. Reading them makes you dumber.

    The guy in the PicoBrew video acts like PicoBrew has made possible individualized medicine as opposed to individualized beer.

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  12. According to Jerry Jones, "It would be a real mistake – a real mistake – to think that Dan, who is Jewish, has a lack of sensitivity regarding somebody’s feelings." Because practicing Judaism renders you massively sensitive in a way that other religions don't?

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  13. Public Service Announcement: I'd consider taking all of my money out of the stock market this week.

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  14. Its possible that Jerry Jones may not have a lot of Jewish friends.

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  15. "I'll just put some ice on it and some Robitussin or something later." - Torii Hunter after falling over the fence in Fenway. I guess that could be useful for the choking but don't think it's going to heal those cuts.

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  16. zman is obviously a rabid anti-semite

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  17. TR, you twitter is probably hacked.

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  18. I would be offended rob, but my gentility renders me insensitive.

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  19. Yep, I got a spam twitter DM from TR as well.

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  20. I can't believe we got scooped on Jack Clark's settlement offer.

    http://deadspin.com/jack-clarks-lawyer-responds-to-albert-pujolss-legal-s-1444929555

    This is about as bad a letter as a lawyer can write without cursing.

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  21. was born in oneida, ny and have a smidge of indian in in me. later in life through work-related stuff, have had the chance to meet ray halbritter a couple of times though i've known about him since i was about 14/15. he is one impressive m.f. with his involvement in the quest for a name change, my money is on him. the means to do so, i have no idea...but he'll probably figure it out.

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  22. I've been to the Turning Stone!

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  23. hmmmm...trying to guess why you ventured there z... had to be a concert - comedian? beastie's? and hopefully not in the winter time.

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  24. Ray Halbritter seems a bit on the shady side and one who causes as much consternation among the Oneida as he does among the palefaces (take that, Snyder!), but I agree with Dan that he may be a lightning rod to bring the loudest kind of attention to the issue. Which, when you think about how many problems exist in the world that have no viable solution handy, makes this all seem ridiculous.

    I have stumbled upon more vacuums of chest-beating today, pockets of comments on various social media outlets where people feel the need to tell Bob Costas to shut up and call the game (sounds like when the Dixie Chicks were told to shut up and sing). In an era of DVR and mute buttons, people being up in arms that Costas used pretty un-incendiary terms to describe the topic is a little dramatic. NBC is loving it, of course.

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  25. costas haters are rabid anti-dimunites. buncha randy newman motherfuckers.

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  26. Is a team's name really important? If the Bills became the Buffalo Bisons or the Buffalo Wings or the Buffalo Buffoons I don't think I'd care.

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  27. The Chargers have a guy named Fozzie!

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  28. Matt Flynn is now a Bill/Fozzy/Wakka.

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  29. By all appearances Mark had a humdinger of a birthday weekend -- a Gator win would've made it perfect, perhaps, but damn, I'm jealous.

    For anyone craving a band new Trombone Shorty instrumental that sweats out New Orleans with every damn drop, go download the song "Shortyville," turn it up way, way louder than you probably should, tap your toes and smile.

    No, seriously, go do it. Now.

    I'm not kidding.

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  30. shortyville is just as clarence advertised. might be my new national anthem.

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  31. Speaking of shorties ... Danny Woodhead, sort yardage back!

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  32. Lou Reed sold out to Playstation?! Letting Danny Bole use Perfect Day was ok, but Playstation?

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  33. Jerry Rice has 6,961 more receiving yards than the second all-time receiving yards leader (TO). It's 44% more yards. That's ridiculous, considering he didn't play in this pass-happy era.

    And it's ridiculous he couldn't have had eight more receiving yards.

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  34. All of Rice's stats are ridiculous, including the number of years he clung to cornrows despite his receding hairline. He was Stevie Wonderesque in that regard.

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  35. Before the half Rivers had five kids. Now in the 4th quarter he's awaiting the birth of his seventh kid? Very productive halftime break.

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  36. Maybe he met a lovely lady with three girls of her own. Oh, wait, that was Tom Brady.

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  37. Hi Gheorghies--I need your help.
    And your opinion.

    I'm doing a survey for my journalism ethics class--can you take 10 mins and share your views with me?

    thanks!!

    https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/89RQMG5

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  38. shlara - a couple of things....hines beat gordo by an hour'ish the other day...13:08 vs 14:22 if memory serves...

    a semi-occasional utilizer of the advertorial...would be interestd in seeing results when complete.

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