AI designed this gin, but would you drink it?

Two years ago, I owned a bar with over 300 different gins -- one of the largest collections of juniper-flavored spirits at any establishment in the United States. None of those gins was designed by a computer, a fact that my bartenders would likely have explained was for the best: A gin's non-juniper botanicals are what make it distinctive, and the most popular recipes have traditionally come from experienced distillers. But now that we're in the AI-as-possible-gourmand era, what if a trained AI system took over the process of formulating, naming, labeling, and even marketing a new type of gin? Could artificial intelligence -- aided somewhat by humans -- create a viable product? Somewhat surprisingly, the answer is "yes." This weekend, Bristol, UK-based Circumstance Distillery and creative technologists Tiny Giant debuted Monker's Garkel as "the world's first gin created by artificial intelligence," and though I was skeptical about AI's actual role in the project, machine learning had a greater influence in the outcome than might be imagined.