Among other things, beverages are dispensed from one or more beverage dispensers based on selections made by users. Information about the dispensing of the beverages is sent to a central server where it is used to manage a variety of functions including replacement of depleted supplies of components. Various features of the beverage dispensers enable the beverages that are dispensed to be uniform and appealing to users.

A beverage dispenser is disclosed herein. The beverage dispenser may include a housing configured to house at least one beverage container therein. The beverage container may include an identification tag associated therewith. At least one identification tag reader may be disposed within the housing. The identification tag reader may be configured to detect the identification tag associated with the beverage container. The beverage dispenser also may include a user interface disposed about an exterior of the housing. The user interface may include at least one beverage identification area that corresponds to the beverage container. At least one controller may be in communication with the at least one identification tag reader and the user interface. The controller may be configured to update the beverage identification area based at least in part on the identification of the beverage container by the identification tag reader.

A dispenser system for providing variable carbonation can include a carbonated water source in communication with a carbonated water valve for controlling flow of carbonated water through the dispenser system; a still water source in communication with a still water valve for controlling flow of still water through the dispenser system; a nozzle in fluid communication with the carbonated water source and still water source; a processing device adapted to modulate the carbonated water and still water valves within a modulate cycle to achieve a ratio of carbonated to non-carbonated water; and a pour mechanism adapted to provide an input to the processing device to dispense the beverage.

A dispensing system for dispensing a beverage component from a container may include a dosing collar configured to restrict flow of the beverage component through the tube. The dosing collar may be adjustable to modify a volume of the beverage component dispensed from a pump head when the pump head is actuated.

A beverage dispenser inclues a housing and a base liquid nozzle arranged on the housing and configured to dispense a base liquid. The beverage dispenser further includes an additive nozzle arranged on the housing and configured to dispense an additive. The beverage dispenser includes a user interface arranged on the housing, and the user interface is configured to receive a first selection of a base liquid and at least one of a temperature of the base liquid and a carbonation level of the base liquid, and a second selection of an additive. The beverage dispenser is configured to dispense the base liquid from the base liquid nozzle based on the first selection, and wherein the additive nozzle is configured to dispense the additive based on the second selection.

Methods and systems for accurately and securely dispensing high value beverages are presented herein. A beverage distribution system includes one or more replaceable beverage cartridges mounted to a beverage dispensing device. Each of the beverage cartridges includes a fluid reservoir with an output port, an output control valve, a flowmeter, and a local controller. The local controller receives signals from the flow meter and determines a cumulative amount of beverage fluid dispensed from the beverage cartridge based on the received signals. In one embodiment, the beverage dispensing device includes a fluid pump and a master controller. The master controller also estimates the cumulative amount of beverage fluid dispensed from each beverage cartridge based on control commands communicated to each beverage cartridge. If a difference between the estimated cumulative amounts of fluid dispensed from a beverage cartridge exceeds a predetermined threshold value, an alert is generated.