Proof of Concept

Where drinks production meets AI. Real tools, real drinks, real outcomes.

Where the algorithm stops and the producer starts: drawing the craft line at Asterley Bros

A South London craft drinks production scene relevant to: Build Log on maker vs machine craft line. Brushed stainless steel, scattered botanicals, warm amber practical lighting.

A South London craft drinks production scene relevant to: Build Log on demand planning build vs buy. Brushed stainless steel, scattered botanicals, warm amber practical lighting.

01 Jul 20265 min read

Business of AI + Drinks

AI for small drinks brands: what works now and what doesn't

Shopify's April 2026 AI Toolkit made AI the operating system of small DTC stores. Here is what that actually means for a six-person drinks brand running real production.

24 Jun 20266 min read

Business of AI + Drinks

Automation doesn't replace craft. It protects it.

The argument that AI replaces the human in craft production gets it backwards. Used well, AI protects the hours you spend on the work only you can do.

24 Jun 20265 min read

Maker vs Machine

What AI changed in DTC drinks: operations got smarter. Customer relationships stayed human.

AI-powered DTC tools now handle personalisation, retention flows, and predictive stock management as a matter of course. What they cannot do is replace the reason a customer came back. That is a relationship, and relationships require emotional contact.

18 Jun 20266 min read

Business of AI + Drinks

The craft decision AI cannot replicate: what "ready" actually means in small-batch spirits production

AI systems can now model fermentation curves, forecast batch yields, and flag production anomalies in real time. The one thing they still cannot do is stand in a cold workshop at 7am, taste a blend, and decide it needs another week. That call belongs to the maker.

18 Jun 20266 min read

Maker vs Machine

How a Six-Person Team Built a Demand Planner That Thinks

A laptop displaying data visualisation charts next to a handwritten production schedule and a glass of English vermouth on a wooden workbench.

13 Jun 20267 min read

Production Intelligence

Where AI Stops and Craft Judgement Takes Over

Hands holding a glass of amber vermouth against a backdrop of raw botanicals including wormwood and gentian root, with a notebook of handwritten tasting notes visible.

13 Jun 20266 min read

Maker vs Machine

When Home and Trade Need the Same Drink

Access Hospitality forecasts UK pub spend will rise more than 150% during the 2026 World Cup. From the production floor of a small drinks brand, the demand surge is a bottling-cycle problem, not a bartender problem. What format choice tells you about where automation belongs.

29 Mar 20265 min read

Maker vs Machine

Premium Value Is the New Premium Price

Euromonitor's head of alcoholic drinks research says premiumisation has hit its limits. From the bench of a small producer building pricing intelligence for itself, here is what the shift to demonstrated value means for the decisions you used to make on instinct.

29 Mar 20266 min read

Business of AI + Drinks

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.

02 Apr 2026 5 min read

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.

30 Mar 2026 5 min read

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.

29 Mar 2026 4 min read

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.

27 Mar 2026 5 min read

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.

25 Mar 2026 3 min read

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.

23 Mar 2026 4 min read

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.

20 Mar 2026 4 min read

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.

19 Mar 2026 4 min read

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.

18 Mar 2026 6 min read

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.

17 Mar 2026 9 min read

Deep Dive