Bartenders are truly some of the greatest people a man can know.

They listen to your problems, always know at least one good joke, will help you scope the girls (and provide useful information on the regulars), and most importantly, disperse sweet lady alcohol in a variety of creative and enticing concoctions.

The one downside? They are usually relegated to just the bar.

Party Robotics is looking to change that by bringing the drink dispensing skills of a bartender to your home through robotics. Their idea is called the Bartendro (because that’s exactly what a robot bartender should be called), and it lets you put a series of tubes into the liquor or mixer bottles of your choice, and then use your tablet or smartphone to send a Wi-Fi drink order to the machine based on the available liquids.

The “how” of the device is complex, but the why should be immediately evident. Coming in designs of 3, 7, or 15 (!) dispensers (a somewhat superfluous single shot model is also available), Bartendro is designed to make the perfectly mixed cocktail at any time, everytime. It’s ideally useful for social gatherings, though honestly once you’ve invested in a cocktail making robot, every day is a party.

Invest early on the device through Kickstarter, and for a full unit it will run you $699 for the 3 tube model, $1,299 for the 7 tube, while $2,499 gets you the 15 tube behemoth in all of its glory.

Bartendro may not be designed to tell jokes and listen to your troubles (yet…) but even at the heavy asking prices, is an incredible representation of the glorious and golden age of alcoholic technological possibilities we live in.

Still, It’d Be Nice If It At Least Knew Your Name

Few things entice me more than a glass of small batch bourbon. Over the past several decades, the list of quality craft whiskeys has grown exponentially, yielding a market place that can be as confusing as it is rewarding. F. Paul Pacult wants to help you navigate the sea of options and blends with an iPhone app called iWhiskey from Jolt OS.

This app is definitely the best resource I’ve found on whiskey for the iPhone. It opens on a “shelf” of whiskey bottles with options for American, Canadian, Irish, single malt Scotch, blended Scotch, and whiskeys from other parts of the world for browsing. There’s a search function if you’re looking for a particular brand and a feature that allows you to save some favorites to your own “My Barrel” section.

Each individual whiskey has a feature page, complete with tasting and bouquet information and a picture of the bottle so you can more easily locate your preference at your bar or the liquor store. There are quite a few with missing pictures, something I’d assume will be updated in the future. The app also features a selection of cocktails made with various whiskeys. The list is small, but again, easy to update.

The app only has two drawbacks. First, it needs a home button. The front screen is so pretty, but there’s just no way to get back to it without closing the app and reopening. The second problem is the price. It’s tough to say whether $10.99 is really worth this kind of information on a phone with web access. Pacult’s reviews are top-notch, and it is a one-stop shop for more than 600 whiskey reviews, but I think you’ll likely only see this on a very serious whiskey lover’s phone.

iTunes Link