No offense but I could be gifted one of those and I'd never use it. I enjoy the craft of making a great cocktail almost as much as drinking it. Shaken, stirred, occasionally blended. You can experiment and tweak ratios, add/sub ingredients. A machine will never do that.

I do respect that not everyone will geek out with it like me but anyone who ever entertains guests should at least understand how to make a scratch Martini or Manhattan.

The concept seems like sort of an inevitable progression from coffee pods. Are the drinks any good?

I would expect that whatever comes out of the pods can't be anywhere near as good as a freshly mixed drink, especially for the citrus component of anything in the sour family. There is no substitute for fresh juice.

That device is $350 and you still have to buy the alcohol that goes in it. It seems superfluous in the least and robbery at the worst, I don't understand how this thing is marketable.

Where is the value-added component to this device? The Drinkworks machine at least is a pod with everything already in it, including the alcohol. You can even buy premade cocktails at the store now if you aren't into mixing. There's a company called On The Rocks that sells bottled old fashioneds made with Knob Creek if you don't want to go to the trouble of buying whiskey, bitters, sugar, etc.

Fresh ingredients are key, I can't imagine a pod or bottled old fashioned tastes as good as one as I mix myself and squeeze an orange peel over the top. Nor does it include a tasty Luxardo cherry. I also probably like them with more bitters than you find in anything that is pre-made. Same thing if you're making a margarita, fresh lime juice is going to make a difference in flavor.

And if I'm making more than one thing I can clean my tumblers faster than I'm sure this machine is ready to go and make something completely different.

For $350 you are well on your way to having a nicely stocked home bar IMO and that would be a far better use of the money for anyone looking to get into cocktails.