Recently, I visited the Irish Whiskey Museum on College Green. Irish whiskey has a long (and sometimes dangerous!) history, and the story is well told in the Museum. One of the things that really caught my attention wasn’t from the eighteenth or nineteenth centuries but much more recent. Introducing, the Jameson ‘Nightender’:
The Jameson ‘Nightender’ in the Irish Whiskey Museum. With thanks to the excellent Potstilled blog for the image.
A clever invention of the 1970s, the ‘Nightender’ was only ever two ten pence coins away from giving you a drink, even after the (human) bartender had decided it was time to close up. Unsurprisingly, the authorities took a dim view of the machines, and they were quickly outlawed. A few seem to have popped up internationally, such as in McKinney, Texas.
Around the same time as the ‘Nightender’, the Sunday Independent reported in 1974 that the Sandyford House had installed “a drinking man’s dream”, with machines on the premises where you “insert your money and out splashes a vodka, gin or whiskey.” The Irish Barmen’s Union weren’t keen on the machines, arguing that:
This machine can break down. You cannot talk to it over a drink….People prefer to sit and be served, especially if they are not too steady on their feet…barmen would fight any moves to introduce the do-it-yourself machines into union pubs.
The Sandyford House, 1974 (Sunday Independent)
Click on the book for more.
Click on the book for more.
Donal
Ciarán
Sam
Come Here To Me! 
Donal
This reminds me of the “conveyor belt” automatic pint dispenser a Clondalkin pub introduced in, I think, the 1990s (forgive an old man’s failing memory). The idea was that the pints passed along a conveyor belt long enough to settle before being topped up. However, as any pint drinker will tell you, there was an inherent problem – this meant that the pints were being filled from two different kegs, something of a “mortaller” for any pint drinker. I remember trying it out, but the pints, while looking fine, were dead, no life in them and – to facilitate the standard, repeatable process – far too cold – although not as bad as in the Guinness Storehouse today.
And again, no interaction with the barman, because he’d be run off his feet feeding the contraption, and it threatened to do away with jobs. Suffice it to say that it didn’t last.
While a pint of plain may be your only man, it needs the loving human touch of an expert barman to bring it to life so that it can tickle your tonsils as only the Protestant Pint can.
Sent from Outlook
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20 pence for a shot of whiskey – not too bad by today’s prices, lol. Seriously – automation will never hit the bar industry in any big way, unions or not. It’s just not right, and punters would massively complain.
There’s a robotic beer-pouring machine in Narita airport in Japan, which allegedly can pour the perfect beer. It’s been there for some years now, but is only regarded as a curiosity. We are living, breathing humans & won’t do without our traditional sardonic Irish bartender.
Interesting info as ever. The Thomas house bar on Thomas St has one (not working) in the bar.Cheers, Sent from Yahoo Mail on Android
Great post, one of these was recently-ish sold at auction in the US, and they are certain that it was made by Barber Weston Ltd., a company which used to be based in Weston-super-Mare but I’m not aware of any overseas branches. I’m currently creating a knowledge base about this and hopefully every other former UK (& the odd Irish one too, e.g. Harringtons) mechanical vending manufacturer on our site – https://rosecottagevintage.co.uk/knowledge-base/barber_machines/nightender/