This Bartender Chatbot Will Help You Make the Perfect Cocktail

Imagine this: It’s Friday night and you’re putting the finishing touches on a dinner party. In an effort to make everyone comfortable, you decide to whip up a big batch cocktail to serve with the hors d'oeuvres. You could spend hours scrolling through cocktail recipes trying to find the perfect one—and who has time for that?—or you could simply ask Barkeep, Facebook’s new artificial intelligence bartender.

Barkeep, which is accessible through Facebook messenger, is a newly-launched tool that came about through a collaboration between Tito’s Handmade Vodka and Allrecipes. It's totally integrated with the Allrecipes database and can give you cocktail recommendations based on the season, the popularity of the recipe, and your own customized preferences. The chatbot is especially useful if you don't know exactly what you want, but you're looking to make, say, something that pairs well with red meat, or that uses both lemonade and vodka.

You can also ask Barkeep for specific instructions—like if you know you definitely want to make a Moscow Mule—or tell it what ingredients you have in your liquor cabinet. Barkeep will then provide you with a list of potential cocktails you can make using only the supplies you have at the moment. Basically, you’ve got a personal mixologist on hand to quickly answer any liquor-related questions that might come up at home.

And the virtual bartender doesn’t leave you stranded after dispensing the recipe: Barkeep gives you step-by-step instructions on how to mix the cocktail, and, if you don’t have the right ingredients, offers the option of ordering them through Drizly (which offers one-hour delivery for people in a hurry).

While sharpening your home cooking skills is common practice, more people might be intimidated by learning how to mix drinks. With the help of Barkeep, becoming an amateur bartender is simply a Facebook message away.