We should have seen this coming, but we didn't. A couple of guys from Georgia Tech are trying to launch this robotic bartending machine called Monsieur, which on the surface seems like a brilliant concept, but it's actually kind of horrifying for anyone who prizes craft cocktails. Basically it works like a Nespresso machine, but for booze, and you have a bunch of cartridges in back filled with god knows what flavorings, as well as different alcohols. There's a touchscreen menu of hundreds of cocktails (as well as cocktail themes, like Tiki, and Cigar Bar), but because all the thing can do is dispense quantities of liquid, you're mostly talking about drinks that have one or two kinds of standard spirit or liqueur in them, and one mixer. And let's not talk about proper shaking or anything like that.

You can, at least, insert your own 750-ml bottles into the machine, so you can have your favorite brands in there. And the settings allow you to tell it if you want your drink light, normal, or BOSS strength. Also, you can order a drink from across the room with your iPhone, but that doesn't help much given that you have to put the ice-filled glass in place by hand.

And though we never want an actual bartender who does this, the machine can track your blood alcohol level and, if necessary, order you an Uber.

For those intimidated by mixing cranberry-vodkas themselves, this machine sounds perfect. But for all those who still would like to shake their own Aviations, get real egg white and bitters in their whiskey sours, and stir their own Manhattans (never shake!), you may want to wait for the advanced model.

Most horrifying to bartending professionals will be the fact that they've got a software package geared toward restaurants and bars, allowing businesses to replace human beings with multiple Monsieurs.

Would it kill them to find a spokesperson who can pronounce the name of the product? Just saying.

[Kickstarter via Laughing Squid]

Well, this looks vile/delicious. Select Southern California Taco Bell dining establishments are offering the new MTN DEW A.M. or "Dewdriver" (TM Jen Chung). According to Laughing Squid, it's a 'breakfast drink' concoction consisting of Mountain Dew and orange juice." Yum? And best of all the fast food chain uses "mixology" in the tagline. Mustache tips and suspenders will never be the same again.

Taco Bell spokesperson Rob Poetsch told FoxNews.com that the new drink is actually doing pretty well, noting via email. "We’re pleased with the initial reaction from our customers, and if it does well, we’ll roll it out to all our restaurants that serve breakfast."

This most recent advancement in molecular gastronomy comes on the heels of a Taco Bell's wildly successful Doritos taco shell.

For those of you amateur mixologists who aren't afraid of muddlers and strainers, we bring you our weekly artisanal cocktail recipe from a San Francisco bartender.

This week's cocktail was something concocted by Alicia Walton for Elixir, specifically for the Ferry Building/CUESA Cocktail Week event last week, and it was one of our favorites of the week. It's got subtle sweetness and fruit combined with just a hint of lavender and vanilla. Alicia combined a spoonful of muddled lavender blossoms with honey, lemon juice and fresh blackberries to form the base of this rum drink, which should be served over ice and enjoyed over your long, and hopefully warm Memorial Day Weekend.

The Black Lavender

4 blackberries
1 barspoon dried lavender
1 barspoon honey, preferably lavender honey
Splash of simple syrup
0.5 oz lemon juice
1.5 oz aged dark rum, preferably Zacapa 23 year
0.5 oz Tuaca (vanilla-flavored liqueur)

Muddle blackberries with lavender, honey, syrup and lemon juice. Add rum and Tuaca. Shake vigorously and double strain over ice. (For multiple cocktails, the honey and simple syrup can be combined into a honey syrup -- just add a half-ounce of syrup for each drink.)

Last night marked the opening gala of the third annual San Francisco Cocktail Week celebration -- a week in which Bay Area barmeisters mix and mingle with mixologists and cocktail enthusiasts from around the nation. The fest includes multiple tasting events around town, education seminars for professional and amateur mixologists alike, a national bartending competition, and lots and lots of drinking. (See full skedge after the jump.)

For those who aren't aware, San Francisco has become the arguable center for the culinary cocktail movement -- both due to the bounty of seasonal ingredients at the ready disposal of local bartenders, and due to the concentration of great restaurants where sophisticated cocktail menus have become the norm. While New York venues like Milk & Honey and the Rainbow Room may have helped popularize a return to classic, pre-Prohibition-era cocktail culture, San Francisco bartenders from places like Bix, Enrico's Sidewalk Café, Bruno's, and Absinthe have gone on to write books and influence cocktail culture far beyond the immediate Bay Area.