I never understood why vendors didn't put beer in vending machines. I understand that there may be some licensing and regulation problems, but the only one I've ever seen was in my friend's house in Syracuse -- and that one was a converted old soda machine. Anyway, a beer machine is identical to a soda machine, obviously. It uses the same size product, the same money/change technology ... is there some law that explicitly prohibits them? At the very least, couldn't bars install them, similar to cigarette machines (in terms of appropriate consumers only)? (First annotation: aren't cigarette machines banned as of now?) Maybe it's just because beer that comes in can typically sucks. Especially in the States.-- toomuchmike, May 17 2001 Beer vending machine http://www.photo.ne...ding-machine-92.tcl [Klaatu, Oct 04 2004] Would be a good idea with one change - make it run off of credit cards - the machine could check your age with your bank. That should get around the legal problems. There is however, one thing a bartender does that it can't - stop you drinking when you've had enough. (Except maybe it could ask for you PIN number....)-- CasaLoco, May 17 2001 Just hook up a breathalyzer to the beer machine -- you have to blow below the legal limit before it'll dispense for you.
(Something akin to the doohickies they attach to multi-DWI offenders' car ignition switches...)
Waugsqueke, this would be *great* for places like sports stadiums or outdoor festivals... No more lineup at the beer tent, 'cos there's a beer machine at every booth!-- MrWrong, May 17 2001 Liability Insurance and Alcohol Permit to Serve Off Site would be exhorbitantly expensive-- thumbwax, May 17 2001 Go immediately to any major Japanese citry and you will find beer machines to be ubiquitous, though not as much so as ten years ago, when you could even buy liquor in vending machines!
Not sure why automated beer vending appears to be fading over there. It appeared, the times I visited, that it was designed to be a shopping convenience - no need to actually go into the store on your way home, just stop at the machine and get what you need for the evening.
Since the Japanese have such an orderly culture, the notion of abuse by underage drinkers didn't seem to come into play at all. As a gesture of discouragement, though, the machines were timed to turn themselves off around 4 or 5 a.m. each day, resuming operations at a time more suitable for the purchase of intoxicating beverages (like noon).
This is the kind of idea that would never, ever fly here in the U.S. Our political and cultural climate is antithetical to any notion of relaxing, or expanding the sale of alcohol. We have all these annoying lobbying groups like Mothers Against Drunk Driving who are powerful enough to abort such ideas before they can even be considered rationally.-- snarfyguy, May 17 2001 I'm having this vision where a Vegas-style slot machine looks like an English-style beer-pump. Not sure where to take it, though.-- angel, May 18 2001 I thick a beer vending machine is a great Idea. But my vote would not be fair. Why you ask? Because my company makes beer vending machines. We restore the old 1960's vending machines into custom beer machines. You can't use them as a public vending machine. They are sold for mostly rec-room and office use. If you would like to check them out you can go to my website at www.beermachines.com-- newme13, Sep 27 2002 The U.S. military has had beer machines in troop barracks in Asia for a long time. It's one of the most pleasant surprises when you are sent there. I spent a year unaccompanied overseas with CNFK (Commander Naval Forces Korea) on Yongsan Army Base, Seoul, Korea. At first it's just a novelty, until you run out of beer at 2am on the weekend and you're shoving nickels into the machine. It wasn't always nickels, but I do remember one occasion where myself and my comrades had to scrounge our rooms for whatever change we had, anything to keep the party going. As many people have stated, the U.S. is far too uptight and restrictive to allow these machines to exist here. Don't misunderstand me, I love my country, but it is becoming a socialist state. We are losing our freedom day-by-day because of TRUTH, MADD, PETA, NOW, and every other special interest group out there. Cry me a river that someone was killed by a drunk driver. More completely sober people die on motorcycles everyday, they're inherently unsafe compared to automobiles, but you don't see any great outcry to ban them. Why, because that would be "Un-American", we believe in liberty here. I don't think drunk driving's cool, but people (especially teenagers), f**k, do drugs and drink and drive. Always have and always will. Yet these SI groups think they can change human nature. They're all sycophant losers who need help. They all think they should be able to tell you how to live. Sure they each have an agenda that sounds good on the surface, but make no mistake, they want to control your life. Even "Sin City" (Vegas) is "family friendly" now. I want to live in Vice City (I even like the name) where it's ok to have a beer machine on the corner. Yeah, and I'd like a steak, and maybe a cigar after that. And later, if I want a hooker, that would be good too. This place may not exist, but if someone knows where on this planet you can have substantially more freedom, please let us all know. Sincerely, Libertarian-- czar19, Aug 30 2003 you'd do better to spell d***k d****r here than f**k truly!
I wanted to know what "unaccompanied" meant but I am suddenly uninterested.-- po, Aug 30 2003 Had one of these in a student hall of residence where I used to live many moons ago. It was often the cause of undiginified scrambling together of all copper coinage that we could find. I've never seen them elsewhere and I like the one-armed-bandit/beer pull idea though. Nice.-- squeak, Sep 01 2003 I had a soda can dispenser at my house for a while. We filled it with various canned beers and cut out bits of the 12 pack containers to go behind the buttons. It was old and didn't work very well, but the idea is sound.-- snikrepkire, Apr 22 2004 Go and stay in the Florida Keys. The hotels have vending machines for beer. You need a special pass-key to operate them with precludes minors from obtaining beer. <link>-- Klaatu, Apr 22 2004 Well, we have beer vending machines in Spain. Nobody finds it extrange. To me not having beer vending machines IS WEIRD. And Cruzcampo is the best beer in the whole world. So there.-- finflazo, Apr 23 2004 random, halfbakery