Ipourit RFID Technology

I hope these are relegated to chain bars/restaurants only. I don't go to any chains either.

I like how you say that some places prefer the "personal touch." Some customers, like me, prefer that too.

Maybe you're right on the reduction of cost in the beer. What you say makes sense, I guess I am too cynical when it comes to business owners.

 

It's true, I do not have a commute that requires a toll. If I did, I would probably have a different view point.

 

I'm really not seeing the benefit for consumers in all of this, and I'm not a big fan of it for a wide variety of reasons.

Ultimately though, I'm really getting sick and tired of being tracked with everything I do. Having a digital record of exactly how much I drank is going way over the line IMO.

I'm also very curious how this accounts for overly heady lines that a bartender would end up wasting half of a beer to get a proper pour to serve. I realize that is loss for the bar, but if this kind of system puts that on consumers, it means we would often end up with either extremely overpriced beers, or, very ugly pours to keep the contents from spilling over.

I could go on, but I really hope this doesn't ever become a thing at craft bars.

 

Biggest problem I see is 99% of people don't know how to pour a beer. Put the glass straight under the tap, and boom... glass full of foam. Instant complaint.

Another problem is people don't know how to pour a beer. I see the faucet ending up touching the beer in some customer's glasses towards the end of their pour. They finish drinking their beer and pour more beer on top of their backwash, tip of the faucet dipped in the backwash infused beer. The next person pours the previous person's diseased backwash into their glass. Sounds lovely. Gross. Might as well be sharing a toothbrush with random homeless people.

I wouldn't utilize this system for the latter reason. It's the same reason I won't touch a buffet or salad bar. I don't want random strangers breathing all over my food and I don't want them licking the faucet I get my beer from.

 

I dont like the idea of not having tap handles visible. That being said id be willing to give this a shot.

 

I can clear up a few things.

First, I wouldn't want anyone tracking how much I've been drinking and we've paid a lot of attention to that is our development. The ounces poured are tracked just to know how much to bill you. As soon as you close your tab, how much is drank is gone. There is only a record of what you drank, not how much.

Secondly, our system is very customizable by each location. They can choose the number of ounces to be poured before a reload and they can set the number of ounces you can pour for each reload. They can also set the limits based on ABV. They can set the ABV target for the number of ounces and we adjust from there. Suppose they set a 32 ounce limit for 9% ABV. If you pour a 9% double IPA you will be stopped at 32 ounces (it takes any employee less than 3 seconds to reload you as they pass by a tap). If you are pouring a 4.5% Lager, you would get 64 ounces before you hit the limit. They can also choose to do it hourly where the first hour you might get 32 ounces and the next hour you get 16 ounces without having to be reloaded. They can combine hourly, ABV, etc. and come up with anything they want to enable you to drink while still making the system legal by not overserving and requiring human interaction.

I'm not sure about not having the tap handles visible. They mount the same handles on each faucet. Here are some pictures of a couple installs: http://www.flickr.com/photos/ipourit The black generic handles are just what we put on during installation. The bar then puts the correct handles on later.

As for the cost per ounce of beer, it's up to the bar. So far all our clients have kept the per ounce fee the same as what the bartender pours. So a $6 pint that a bartender pours will be $6/16 = $0.375 / ounce. Same happy hour rules apply and will automatically adjust the per ounce rate during their specials.

As for the hardware affecting flow, we work with beer line installers to balance each line. We know what restriction our system adds to the line and they then know how much chocker to take out. So the beer pours beautifully. We have cards we leave with clients that show how to properly pour a beer. We also have banners they post and some print the instructions in the menus. Everyone has fun learning to pour a beer. If they pour poorly they will have a lot of head in the pint glass - all the instructions tell them to let it settle because foam is beer - after one or two wild pours, everyone can pour a perfect pint. But a poor pour will release the CO2 in the cup, not the beer line. We are only measuring the liquid in the line so if you pour a 16 ounce cup with 8 ounces beer and 8 ounces foam, when it settles you will have about 10 ounces of beer which is what our system will have measured and added to your bill. Our system is incredibly accurate and we test every install with a measuring cup, let it foam and settle to make sure what we poured is what we measured.

I appreciate the feedback!

Thanks,
Brett Jones

 

thanks for all the answers!

 

People would grow and harvest their own veggies... Im with you man.

 

This will never come to Texas unless the tap can pass a written TABC licensing test.

 

Never realized "not driving=alcohol can be consumed in unlimited quantities."

Plus, if I'm ever buying rounds for friends, the process is typically reciprocated thereby coming out a wash. If you're constantly doing all the beer buying, then we need to hang out.

 

Brett,

Is there a site that shows what bars have this? I would be interested in finding and trying this out sometime.

 

Although put very crudely, this is the main issue.

If they tried to implement this at the Yard House I work at, they would have to redesign nearly the entire building because the taps make up the central core of the restaurant. Plus, people would get real annoyed having to recharge their wristband after every couple half yards or so.

This is another problem. Germaphobes are gonna hate this.

 

I would imagine that to follow many (most?) health codes, they would be required to get new glassware for every pour, just like you are required to get new plates at salad bars and buffets.

also, if you read brett's reply he addressed the issue of volume pretty well (I think).

 

buying and drinking beer is something people have been doing for, oh, 1,000 years. i figure people have been trying to "improve" this situation for the past 900 or so years.

drinking beer at a bar is not broken. it's not something that needs to be fixed.

i wish you luck and success with your invention. while i hope never to experience this technology, i imagine 26 year old assistant general managers and their patrons who consistently overpay for watery suds and velveeta covered nachos will find this shiny object quite intriquing.
Cheers.

 

So it bothers you that you won't have to talk to the bartender before/after every beer anymore, but it also bothers you that you WILL have to talk to the bartender to get a reset after every two beers?

Do you want to have to talk to the bartender or not?

 

It's the nature of the conversation that is dictating my opinion on the matter. In one I am conversing with them about any number of things from the beer to the weather. In another, I am asking permission to keep drinking.

 

Interesting. I have been working on something like this as well, but not quite as automated. The wristband + Setup + Check ID's + type up the settings per patron = time. So I am not sure how much work this saves. I would need to try it, before I make a decision on my perception of the product. I definitely don't want to hope, that people us clean glassware. This is one area I am concerned about. If they ID the glasses to know if they were already used, then yes, I would be more comfortable with it from a sanitary standpoint. Then when glasses are cleaned, they are *reset*.

I do like the idea of being able to go with a 1/2 or 1/4 pour, I think this is where it can be most useful. *Flights* can be a PITA for bartenders, especially during busy times. I order samplers often and I usually see the people around me get their full pours before my flight arrives. I don't like that, serve everyone at once. OR Let me go make my own :-)

Overall, cool concept, but I need to try it.

 

You understand that in the first conversation, the bartender is determining if you are sober enough to have permission to keep drinking, right? Make a conversation when you ask for a rest. It's pretty much the same thing.

 

That's still a record. And you clearly have the ability to log it, whether that gets turned on or not. Even if you start with good intentions, we all know how this goes down the road as some large chain wants to start using the oz/person data and offers to pay you for it.

That's great in theory, but even the best and most well kept bars have pouring issues with their taps all the time. I don't see how adding additional hardware and having untrained people pouring the beer could do anything but make it worse. Bars frequently dump beer, or keep a pitcher going on the side, just to enable a good pour for everyone. How can that possibly work with an automated system that charges you by the ounce?


The responses are appreciated, but you did completely ignore the issue of sanitization. Does somebody go through and sanitize the tap between every pour? Or is there just a stack of glassware to take from? (Even then, particularly when alcohol is involved, people are just going to re-use their own glass and stick the faucet directly into it, which is quite gross).

 

Haha