METHOD AND MACHINE FOR DISPENSING AN INDIVIDUAL FORMULATION OF A BEVERAGE
The present invention is a method for developing and providing a personalized distilled spirit, or other beverage, to a user who responds to a collection of stimulus in the form of taste samples, smell samples, written, and/or visual representations. The user's responses to the stimulus may be compared to expert responses in a database to create a recommended recipe resulting in one or more customized product samples being either physical products or written/visual responses in the form of tasting notes or a flavor map, for example. The user can then modify their customized spirit, repeating the process as many times as they wish and then submit for the production and purchase of the recipe based on an array of spirits or other beverages that is then combined using a blending machine.
1 . A method for developing and dispensing a personalized beverage; the method being comprised of the steps of:
providing a user with an array of statements, questions, sounds, aromas, or combinations thereof to respond to;
collecting the user's one or more responses arising from the array;
inputting the one or more responses into a computing device;
interpreting, via the computing device, the one or more responses to formulate a personalized recipe;
inputting the personalized recipe via a user interface of a beverage blending machine, wherein the beverage blending machine is comprised of the user interface, a microprocessor connected to the user interface, multiple containers that retain individual ingredient beverages, an input tube in each respective container, and one or more pumps connected to each input tube;
interpreting the personalized recipe using the microprocessor;
calculating the amount of each ingredient beverage to provide for a given overall volume to dispense using the microprocessor;
drawing the calculated amount of each ingredient beverage using the one or more pumps connected to the respective input tubes;
dispensing the calculated amount of each ingredient beverage into a collection glass, bottle, or other container.
2 . The method according to claim 1 , wherein the computing device compares and contrasts the one or more responses to characteristics of predetermined ingredients.
3 . The method according to claim 1 , wherein, via the computing device, the user may edit the proposed recipe prior to inputting the personalized recipe via the user interface of the beverage blending machine.
4 . The method according to claim 1 , wherein the user interface is a graphical interface where a graphic is associated with each of the ingredient beverages, and wherein the user interface may include a keyboard, computer mouse, touch screen, scanner, or a combination thereof.
5 . The method according to claim 1 , wherein the personalized recipe is provided as a QR code and the user interface is a QR code scanner.
6 . The method according to claim 1 , further comprising: providing custom tasting notes based upon the amounts of each ingredient beverage of the personalized recipe as well as the interaction of particular ingredient beverages when mixed together in particular ratios.
7 . The method according to claim 1 , further comprising: providing cocktail recommendations based upon the amounts of each ingredient beverage of the personalized recipe as well as the interaction of particular ingredient beverages when mixed together in particular ratios.
8 . The method according to claim 1 , wherein the user's one or more responses may be in the form of answering an open-ended question, choosing between provided binary responses, providing a Likert scale response, choosing from predetermined multiple-choice responses, giving a ranking to provided options, using a numeric or slider scale response, aroma choice preference, or a combination thereof.
9 . A method for developing and dispensing a personalized beverage; the method being comprised of the steps of:
providing a user with an array of beverages for the user to sample;
collecting the user's one or more responses arising from the array;
inputting the one or more responses into a computing device;
interpreting, via the computing device, the one or more responses to formulate a personalized recipe;
inputting the personalized recipe via a user interface of a beverage blending machine, wherein the beverage blending machine is comprised of the user interface, a microprocessor connected to the user interface, multiple containers that retain individual ingredient beverages, an input tube in each respective container, and one or more pumps connected to each input tube;
interpreting the personalized recipe using the microprocessor;
calculating the amount of each ingredient beverage to provide for a given overall volume to dispense using the microprocessor;
drawing the calculated amount of each ingredient beverage using the one or more pumps connected to the respective input tubes;
dispensing the calculated amount of each ingredient beverage into a collection glass, bottle, or other container.
10 . The method according to claim 9 , wherein the computing device compares and contrasts the one or more responses to characteristics of predetermined ingredients.
11 . The method according to claim 9 , wherein, via the computing device, the user may edit the proposed recipe prior to inputting the personalized recipe via the user interface of the beverage blending machine.
12 . The method according to claim 9 , wherein the user interface is a graphical interface where a graphic is associated with each of the ingredient beverages, and wherein the user interface may include a keyboard, computer mouse, touch screen, scanner, or a combination thereof.
13 . The method according to claim 9 , wherein the personalized recipe is provided as a QR code and the user interface is a QR code scanner.
14 . The method according to claim 9 , further comprising: providing custom tasting notes based upon the amounts of each ingredient beverage of the personalized recipe as well as the interaction of particular ingredient beverages when mixed together in particular ratios.
15 . The method according to claim 9 , further comprising: providing cocktail recommendations based upon the amounts of each ingredient beverage of the personalized recipe as well as the interaction of particular ingredient beverages when mixed together in particular ratios.
16 . The method according to claim 9 , wherein the user's one or more responses may be in the form of answering an open-ended question, choosing between provided binary responses, providing a Likert scale response, choosing from predetermined multiple-choice responses, giving a ranking to provided options, using a numeric or slider scale response, tasing notes, flavor maps, aroma choice preference, or a combination thereof.
17 . The method according to claim 9 , wherein the array of beverages for the user to sample includes an array of distilled spirits.
18 . The method according to claim 17 , wherein variables of the array of distilled spirits are selected from one or more of: the type of wood used to make the spirit, the age of the wood to make the spirit, the preparation of the wood used to make the spirit, pressure used to make the spirit, cycles of pressure on the spirit and wood, and the alcohol percentage used.
19 . A method for dispensing a personalized beverage; the method being comprised of the steps of:
inputting personalized beverage data via a user interface of a beverage blending machine, wherein the beverage blending machine is comprised of the user interface, a microprocessor connected to the user interface, a memory coupled to the microprocessor, multiple containers that retain individual ingredient beverages, an input tube in each respective container, and one or more pumps connected to each input tube;
retrieving a personalized recipe from the memory based on the personalized beverage data;
calculating the amount of each ingredient beverage to provide for a given overall volume to dispense using the microprocessor;
drawing the calculated amount of each ingredient beverage using the one or more pumps connected to the respective input tubes;
dispensing the calculated amount of each ingredient beverage into a collection glass, bottle, or other container.
20 . The method according to claim 19 , wherein the user interface is a graphical interface where a graphic is associated with each of the ingredient beverages, and wherein the user interface may include a keyboard, computer mouse, touch screen, scanner, or a combination thereof.