Proof of Concept
Where drinks production meets AI. Real tools, real drinks, real outcomes.
Your AI Tools Are Drifting. Here's Why That's Your Job to Fix.
Most AI tools don't fail with a bang. They fail with a slow, polite decline over weeks or months, quietly becoming less accurate until you realise you've been building decisions on something that stopped matching reality.
Maker vs Machine
The Drinks Business Built an AI. It's Searching the Wrong Layer.
Trade media building its own AI search tool is a sign the conversation has shifted from hype to implementation. But most of what we call "AI in drinks" still sits in the information layer, not where the real compounding happens.
Industry Watch
Automation Doesn't Replace Craft. It Protects It.
There's a version of the automation conversation that goes like this: technology comes for the craft. We've come to see the relationship differently. Automation targets admin, not craft. Those hours go back to what matters.
Maker vs Machine
Building an AI Co-Strategist for a Six-Person Spirits Company
We built a tool that scores business ideas against our actual data: capacity, team strengths, customer preferences, cost, and ROI. The most useful moments are when it pushes back.
Build Log
The Unexpected Thing Automation Gave Us Back
We expected automation to save hours. What we got back was strategic headspace. The cognitive benefit of removing reactive admin from a small team turned out to be the bigger unlock.
Business of AI + Drinks
Zuckerberg Wants an AI CEO. So Should You.
Meta is building AI decision support systems. The principle is identical for a six-person vermouth company. The tools are democratic and the window is open.
Industry Watch
The Death of Ten Blue Links (and Why Small Drinks Brands Should Be Thrilled)
GEO is replacing SEO as the way customers find brands. Small drinks producers with deep niche expertise have a structural advantage over corporate sites with outdated coverage.
Business of AI + Drinks
Teaching an AI to Make a Negroni (and Why It Took Thousands of Tasting Notes to Get There)
We tried asking an LLM to create cocktail recipes. The results were technically plausible and completely wrong. Eight months and a structured tasting database later, we're at 95% accuracy.
Production Intelligence
How We Used AI to Hire Our First Developer
A non-technical founder hiring technical talent. From bottleneck audit to layered interview, here's how we used AI to bridge the knowledge gap without handing over the final call.
Business of AI + Drinks
Why the Drinks Industry Is About to Have Its AI Moment
The drinks industry is behind on AI. But behind means there's runway. A maker and technologist's honest look at what's already happening and where the real opportunities sit for small producers.
Deep Dive