Sunday Beer: Automated Beer (and other drinks)

So I was actually out and about in the city the other night which is very rare for me. Made it all the way to the increasingly gentrified but still a bit bohemian Newtown area of Sydney.

Now, like I said, I’m not much of a night owl so there may well be trends in bars that have passed me by but this was new to me. In this bar you serve yourself the drinks.

You pick up a glass, go to the tap of the booze you want and fill your glass. The catch is that you have to have an electronic card which you preload with cash. You put it on the black rectangle and the cost of your drink is metered like you are a petrol pump.

I guess there must be a few more rules to comply with Australian Responsible Service of Alcohol rules but I was told I had to be sociable and not obsesses over what is either capitalism gone mad or the first step on the road to fully automated space communism. Hell, even Star Trek had bartenders.