There are space-saving home beer-brewing contraptions that pare the process down to a contraption the size of a ‘roided-up Keurig. Then there’s conceiving a full-fledged homebrew experience that GeekWire dubs a “3D printer for beer.” If anybody would know what does or does not resemble a 3D printer….
Meet Pico, the fully automatic brewing appliance that lets you not only experiment and perfect 5L at a time of your own signature blend, but whose patented technology works from ready-to-brew PicoPak pre-measured ingredients to faithfully replicate more than 50 of the most respected craft breweries worldwide.
The real heart and soul of the experience actually isn’t the appliance itself at all, really. It’s the BrewMarketplace, where Pico aficionads can either buy PicoPaks emulating their reigning favorite indie beers and craft breweries or order their own customized PicoPaks personalized to taste. It’s even a hub where other homebrewers can showcase their own recipes to share with the world. Ratings, recommendation and even direct conversations with brewers themselves make the BrewMarketplace more a sudsy little tavern than a retailer.
It’s more like the Build-A-Bear of beers, really. Build-A-Beer. Build a bear and some beer. Have a beer, build a bear. Bears. Beers. Beets. BATTLESTAR GALACTICA.
As to the beers themselves, Pico units awarded to the developers’ current Kickstarter campaign come bundled with 12 personally selected PicoPaks from Zymatic, all of which are also available individually in the BrewMarketplace:
- PICO PALE – Citrusy and piney American pale ale
- HALF-SQUEEZED – Deschutes Fresh Squeezed IPA-inspired session brew
- ATOMIC AMBER – Not a superb stripper name, but instead, the malty amber product of Cascade and Centennial hops with a pleasant zing
- B-52 BLONDE – Also not a top-heavy stripper, but an American craft beer that emphasizes the malt and goes down easy
- NOT YET-IE – Super-sized imperial stout, the stuff of legend
- PLINIUS MAXIMUS – Russian River’s beloved Pliny the Elder double IPA gets a tip of the cap from PicoBrew
- ANNIE’S LONDON ALE – Sun’ll come out tomorrow, you say? Well, the subtle toffee and caramel reminds you that it’s still a day away with some blurry time to spare
- BELLE OF THE BALL – A Saison-favorite Wallonia brew
- TWEATIES – Drink-to-forget wheat ale of champions
- PICO PILS – It’s called a “lawnmower beer”, which can only mean one thing: crisp, refreshing virtual reality powers, right?
- DEAF TURTLE – Another Russian River honorarium, this time paying respect to Blind Pig IPA
Between the taste-test proven established craft brew recipes and the boundless possibilities of your own blends, you are always guaranteed superbly fresh beer born of world-class ingredients and without the bottling/distribution taxes and environmentally ugly impact from non-compostable ingredients, massive water usage, and outsized energy costs of traditional brewing.
The process is really quite simple. After inserting the PicoPak and adding water, select the setting for your beer per the instructions. Your beer brews in about two hours and is then ready to ferment in its mini-keg and carbonate overnight.
If you’ll excuse us, we paid a nerdy crack team in pizza to dial in our recipe for the perfect Japanese-style brew to mimic Sapporo. We’re calling it PikaBrew.
