Skip to main content

Can AI make a better drink? We asked an expert (and the answer might surprise you)

Ever wonder how AI is reshaping the bartending realm? Here's how.

Artificial intelligence is doing more than you think. From autonomous vehicles and streaming services to social media, AI has left its thumbprint on quite a bit. The robots are now coming for your cocktails, and that may not be a bad thing.

The Heavenly Sipper, an AI-generated cocktail.
St-Germain

Consider the cocktail above: the Heavenly Sipper, devised by ChatGPT. The popular AI chatbot, used for tasks like more articulate text messages and last-minute essays (not advised), was recently called into action to make the ideal cocktail.

Recommended Videos

The result is an admittedly delicious-sounding cocktail. The Heavenly Sipper, while guilty of having a robotic name, is a complex mixed drink. Combining gin, Absinthe, Cointreau, elderflower liqueur, lime juice, honey syrup, orange bitters, and sparkling wine, the drink boasts layers and complementary flavors.

Katie Renshaw is the brand ambassador for St-Germain. She’s worked at a number of acclaimed Chicago watering holes over the years, such as Billy Sunday and Moneygun. Her work in creating the Heavenly Sipper was her first collab with AI, but she sees a lot of potential. AI came up with the recipe, and a real human, Renshaw, tested the drink out and fine-tuned the volumes of each ingredient.

“I think AI could help inspire modern classics by giving us ratios and recipes we’ve never even considered as bartenders,” Renshaw says. “By having such a breadth of empirical knowledge, AI could learn to predict balance in a whole new way.”

It’s important to consider the many things that go into a perfectly-balanced drink. You have to get the volumes right, sure, but it’s also about texture and even things on a molecular level. “AI can understand density, ABV, and brix [sugar density] of spirits, as well as a plethora of traditional flavor pairings, in a single instance, so it has the potential to create cocktails that are perfectly balanced, without being bound to classic cocktail proportions,” Renshaw says.

For a brand ambassador, that could spell exciting new recipes for the elderflower liqueur.”By having endless access to information about more modern spirits too, it would have the ability to incorporate something like St-Germain into classic and original cocktails with precision, keeping in mind its sweet but bright fresh flavor profile,” she says. “There are a lot of interesting ways to use the technology, but I believe we’ll always need someone on the other end to taste!”

Other AI bartending assists

absinthe
Rafa Elias / Getty Images

Renshaw believes there’s an education and connectivity element that AI could really offer the bartending world too. “I think with the proper prompts, AI could assist in creating training manuals and handbooks for bars and bartenders by learning from data from the best cocktail bars and bartenders around the world,” she says. “With the right information, AI could even create guides on hospitality itself, helping us learn how to anticipate a guest’s needs in even more profound ways.”

That’s a pretty mind-blowing thought: Using AI to essentially predict the future and detect a patron’s next move before it even happens. One could argue that the best bartenders and hospitality folks already have this gift but anything involving a jump in the space and time continuum has our attention.

“AI also is already playing a role for bars’ promotional efforts, generating everything from text content for social media posts to happy hour ideas and special event concepts,” Renshaw says. “With all of that, the human element of bartending is absolutely necessary — the connection between a bartender or hospitality the guest cannot be recreated by tech.”

There are more out there AI bartending ideas being put to work at the moment. Take Cecilia, the AI bartender created over the course of three years in Israel. The synthetic barkeep boasts voice recognition skills, dialed-in-cocktail creation, contactless ordering, and even the banter that bartenders know oh so well.

Or, there’s Yanu, a fully autonomous bartending unit. The bar, which comes in three different colors, can whip up 100 cocktails per hour, take orders via an app, and be maintained in the Cloud. Yanu sounds far-fetched, pulled from a scene in Minority Report, but it’s here and more units are likely to follow.

AI will almost certainly affect bartenders less directly, at least early on, but we’re really just beginning to see what the capabilities might be. Bartenders should not fear for their jobs just yet, but

Where AI is lacking

Ichabod Crane cocktail apartment bartender elliot clark
Apartment Bartender/Instagram

“While I haven’t spent much time with AI tools yet, I can imagine there would be a learning curve as AI evaluates newer spirits and catches up with new cocktail techniques and trends,” Renshaw says. Then there’s the time of year, which influences that cocktail realm as much these days as it does the culinary world. “AI also can’t taste ingredients that may be seasonal or may change over time. They also can’t predict cocktail trends; time has shown us that trending and viral cocktails don’t follow any sort of pattern or predictability, and that’s what keeps our world exciting!”

The robots may not be taking over the bar but they’re certainly creating an impact. The real balancing act going forward may just be locating the sweet spot between AI-generated content and genuine human-directed hospitality and execution. Restaurants are using robots and there are already some airport AI bartenders out there.

Will AI change the way we view a perfect Old Fashioned or a Tom Collins cocktail? That story is being written as we speak.

Mark Stock
Mark Stock is a writer from Portland, Oregon. He fell into wine during the Recession and has been fixated on the stuff since…
10 great reasons you should do Dry January this year
Dry January can be tough, but with these tips and tricks, getting through the month alcohol free should be a breeze
Day drinking

When the New Year rolls around, many people see it as a perfect time to reset and refresh. Particularly after the rich and festive meals during the holidays, many people make New Year’s resolutions to start eating healthier and exercising regularly, for example. And if you're like me, you might have some trouble keeping those resolutions throughout the entire year.
The holidays are also a time when many people, myself included, consume (more than) our fair share of alcoholic beverages. Between holiday parties, happy hours, spiked eggnog drinks, all those festive cocktails, and countless bottles of Christmas wine, you may feel like your liver needs a bit of a break. Dry January was designed for precisely this purpose -- to encourage people to abstain from alcohol for the entire month, to restore their physical health and their healthy relationship with alcohol.
If you’ve never participated in Dry January before, you may think it downright daunting or completely unnecessary. But you may be surprised at how beneficial and easy it can be with discipline, flexibility, and planning. So, if you’re looking for a fresh way to boost your health in 2025, keep reading for our Dry January tips.

What is Dry January?

Read more
A new study says that AI is better at distinguishing whiskey aromas than humans
German researchers used AI to find the differences in whiskeys
Whiskey glass

Like with any form of alcohol, the more you drink whiskey, the better you become at picking out specific flavors and aromas. When you’re past the beginner stage, you’ll sip a glass of bourbon, single malt Scotch whisky, or rye whiskey. Instead of simply stating that it’s “mellow,” “smooth,” or has flavors like vanilla, oak, and wintry spices, you’ll start to pinpoint more nuanced aromas and flavors. We’re talking about things like licorice candy, caramelized sugar, sweet treacle, candied cherries, and countless more.

But, according to a new study, you’ll never be better at picking out and distinguishing aromas than artificial intelligence. That’s right, the robots are coming for our taste buds too. Well, sort of.
The study

Read more
Why does coffee make me sleepy? How caffeine can leave you feeling tired
What to do when coffee has the opposite effect
Man who is tired

Coffee is the most popular stimulant in the U.S., consumed by nearly 75% of Americans. As a long-time coffee drinker, there's no doubt that it's my favorite stimulant (even if its effects are unnoticeable due to my crazy high caffeine tolerance). Even though I crave coffee's taste, with a slight bitterness and light sweetness, based on taste alone, I sometimes reach for coffee simply for a major boost of energy from its caffeine content.

At times, I feel perkier after a cup of coffee, but there are also times I'm struggling to stay awake. This phenomenon has left me questioning," Why does coffee make me sleepy?" If you've felt that random wave of tiredness hit you after consuming caffeine, you might have asked yourself this question, too. The question of how coffee and tiredness are interrelated can get confusing, especially given coffee's well-known reputation as a drink that keeps you awake. Here are a few reasons you might feel tired after drinking coffee.
Why does coffee make me sleepy?

Read more