Choose the spirit brand and strength level for a customized sip

NEED TO KNOW

• Our shopping editor has been testing the Bartesian Premier cocktail maker for the past two months.
• It has reservoirs for gin, rum, tequila, whiskey, and vodka, which you fill with your brands of choice. After inserting a recyclable cocktail pod, choose your preferred alcohol level and watch it mix a fresh drink in seconds.
• The brand offers more than 100 different cocktail pods, including flavored margaritas, cosmos, espresso martinis, and hurricanes. Each pod can also be made as a mocktail.

I’ve tried at-home bartending over the years, but it’s always too much of a hassle. Aside from the spirits, the dizzying number of mixers you need ready to make even the most basic rotation of drinks is enough to fill a cabinet with liqueurs, syrups, and bitters you’ll rarely use.

That’s a big reason why I’ve been so impressed with the Bartesian Premier Cocktail Maker since I started testing it in August. It takes nearly all the work out of making drinks — even complicated ones like a Long Island iced tea — by precisely combining spirits with a recyclable capsule of mixers. It’s like a one-touch coffee pod machine, but the results are way tastier (and more fun).

Bartesian Premier Cocktail Maker

$350 at Amazon

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The cocktail capsules don’t contain alcohol, which is a brilliant move by Bartesian. It allows you to choose the brands and styles of gin, rum, tequila, whiskey, and vodka that you use (filling the glass reservoirs labeled for each). So, whether you’re happy with well drinks or only like your sips mixed with top-shelf spirits, you’ll be happy.

It also means every pod can be prepared as a mocktail by replacing liquor with water. When you insert a capsule, the machine lets you choose the alcohol level — mocktail to strong — before telling you whether or not to add ice, and the type of glass to use. For the best results, some drinks need to be shaken with ice and strained, which the screen also tells you.

I’ve tasted drinks made with all five base spirits and, while it’s a matter of personal preference, they’ve all delivered fresh and well-mixed results. The machine’s been great for discovering new drinks that I’d hesitate to order at a bar, like the aviation. But for drinks I already love, like the Manhattan and negroni, I’ve dialed the spirit level up to “strong” and been left plenty tipsy.

The Bartesian addresses another longtime gripe of mine with homemade cocktails: sussing out the nutritional information. As a type 1 diabetic, knowing exactly how many carbs are in something I’m drinking is the difference between a pleasant buzz and a blood sugar disaster. So having all the ingredients precisely measured and the information easy to read for each drink has been fantastic.

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When I told Alex Nelson, our associate editorial director, that I was testing the machine, she said her mom has one, too, and is such a fan that she has an entire conversation room “centered around her cocktail machine.” I get it — I’ve had multiple visitors enjoy flipping through my drawer of capsules and picking a drink.

Shop the Bartesian Premier Cocktail Maker or check out one of the other sizes, like the smaller Bartesian Duet, below. Plus, you’ll find a variety pack of capsules and the storage drawer I use to hold mine.

Bartesian Classic Collection Cocktail Capsules, 6-Pack

$15 at Amazon

Bartesian Duet Cocktail Maker

$299 at Amazon

Bartesian Classic Cocktail Maker

$400 at Amazon

Bartesian Cocktail Capsule Storage Drawer

$35 at Amazon

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