What's on Tap? BMW Patents a Bottoms Up-Style Drink Filler

Sebastien Bell
by Sebastien Bell

Have you ever even tried to fill a champagne flute while Jeeves is at the wheel? It’d be easier to beat Warren Buffet’s dividend portfolio.

Thank goodness BMW has been working on solving that oh so universal of problems, how properly to serve er… sparkling rose water while in a car (a chapter sorely missing from my copy of Emily Post).

Rather than trying to pour the champ… orange juice, you just put your glass into a cup holder and it fills up like magic.

The system kind of works like the Bottoms Up beer taps at a baseball game (below), filling from the bottom. Essentially, there are two one-way, spring loaded valves (one going down in the base and the other going up in the glass) so that when you press down on the glass (and then press a button), liquid shoots up and fills your cup so that it runneth over metaphorically, but not literally.


The nice thing about the system is that it’s also a more secure cup holder, so the chances of spillage reduce rather.

Best of all, you can even mix your drinks (or more likely pick between two), because the system has two beverage reservoirs. So you could pick between orange juice and whatever else goes into a champagne flute.

SEE ALSO: 2019 Volvo XC40 vs 2018 BMW X1

Naturally, this system could be fitted to any vehicle, but since patent drawings show a champagne flute, we don’t imagine that just any riff raff will get this. It’s probably better suited to limousines like the 7 series or any Rolls Royce.

A version of this story originally appeared on Bimmerfest.

Sebastien Bell
Sebastien Bell

Sebastien is a roving reporter who covers Euros, domestics, and all things enthusiast. He has been writing about the automotive industry for four years and obsessed with it his whole life. He studied English at the Wilfrid Laurier University. Sebastien also edits for AutoGuide's sister sites VW Vortex, Fourtitude, Swedespeed, GM Inside News, All Ford Mustangs, and more.

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