Drinking gadgets: 5 of the best to buy this summer including Corcicle's whisky wedge and Norm Architect's carafe

Hosting this season? Prep your party with the latest booze-related technologies that are changing the world of alcohol
Drinking gadgets: the best tech you need to buy this summer

Wining and dining is one of life’s simpler pursuits; a chance for phones to play second fiddle to real conversation. Wine impresarios keep their collections in cellars muffled by cobwebs, the bottles cloaked in a patina of thick dust.

But like all things eventually, alcohol has been targeted by technology. Booze tech is booming — though purists needn’t weep into their cabernet sauvignon. Gadgets are enhancing full bodies and ensuring thick, satisfying heads on beers.

Norm Architect’s carafe (£32, store.menudesignshop.com) aerates your wine in under two minutes. This is a 'Good Thing', as it releases the aromas in the grape. Attach the decanter to the top of an open bottle and then flip it over to pour wine into the decanter. Serve either from the carafe or flip it over again in order to serve the aerated wine from the bottle.

Beer before wine makes you feel fine: if you want to start on the hops, Norm has also developed the Menu Beer Foamer (£30). The gadget ensures you don’t mess up the head on your beer: pour a centimetre of your pint into the gadget glass and the whisk will froth it to perfection in 20 seconds.

Keep your pint cold with Firebox’s glass (£16.99, firebox.com), which has a thermal gel inside its body to keep your drink cold without affecting the taste. Prepare the glass in the fridge or freezer depending on the brew.

Whisky wedge: enjoy a dram without watering down (image: ProdctPhotography.com LLC)
ProdctPhotography.com LLC

If whisky’s your poison, serve your dram in the Corkcicle whisky wedge (£12, corkcicle.com). Connoisseurs baulk at diluting their malt, but nor do they want to drink it lukewarm — so pour water into the glass, add its triangular silicone mould, and then put the whole thing in the freezer. This creates a triangular ice cube that melts more slowly than a regular one, but which doesn’t melt into the whisky.

And then there is the Coravin (£269, coravin.co.uk) — the crowning jewel in the wine nerd’s collection. It’s a glorified corkscrew that allows you to extract a glass of wine from the bottle without removing the cork, so special bottles can be tried and then left to mature as normal without affecting the quality of the wine.

The Atelier Collection of Cocktails - in pictures

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Attach the contraption to the top of the bottle, then insert the thin, hollow Teflon needle. The wine is then pressurised with argon gas from the integral canister. Once the bottle has been pressurised the wine is released through the hollow needle. Remove the needle and the cork will reseal itself. As the wine was never exposed to oxygen, it isn’t ruined. It’s a favourite of the sommeliers at the Ritz and Fera at Claridge’s.

The impresarios will be clamouring for a high-tech tipple — play your cards right and they’ll buy you a drink.

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