The Bar of the Future Serves More Than Just Drinks





cafe artscience bar of the future

The bar of the future is here. And you might be surprised by the types of “drinks” it’s serving.

Café ArtScience is a Cambridge, Massachusetts, restaurant that serves alcohol in forms you’ve likely never seen before. The bar has a machine called Le Whaf, which transforms various liquors into clouds of consumable gas that patrons can simply inhale rather than drink.

It’s a strange concept to be sure, but it’s just the type of innovation that’s interesting enough to get curious consumers through the door.

David Edwards, the inventor and Harvard University professor behind Café ArtScience told Entrepreneur:

“The bar is a natural place for experimentation. People just have more fun at the bar, and the leading edge of creating the food and beverages of tomorrow has to be fun.”

Café ArtScience isn’t only innovating in the bar department. The restaurant also offers a variety of unique and sustainable food items, including glazed pig tails and barbecue Vermont quail.

But it also isn’t the only bar that’s creating new, innovative ways of consuming alcohol.



Chicago’s Aviary serves a drink called In The Rocks, which is basically an Old Fashioned served within an ice cube that patrons can crack with a small slingshot-like device.

And Barmini in Washington, D.C., uses a machine called an ultrasonic homogenization device that uses sound waves to add flavor to its drinks.

All of these businesses show a flare for the unique and dramatic. While some bars are able to get by just fine with standard menus, other’s are choosing to stand out from the pack. And as they continue to innovate, the future of the industry could well change what we all consider to be standard offerings.

Image: Cafe ArtScience



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Annie Pilon Annie Pilon is a Senior Staff Writer for Small Business Trends, covering entrepreneur profiles, interviews, feature stories, community news and in-depth, expert-based guides. When she’s not writing she can be found exploring all that her home state of Michigan has to offer.

2 Reactions
  1. Interesting. Today, restaurants make money not only through their food but also through what’s unique with their products and services. It is an interesting trend in the food industry.

    • Having something really different can at least drive people to visit out of curiosity. Then maybe they will also find they like the other food/drinks.







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