We're generally pretty skeptical of PR pitches. While some offer useful tips about local events, others seem off the mark. So when we got a press release for a machine you can use to manufacture carbonated beverages at home, we were a bit puzzled. What did it have to do with D.C.? Gathering around the electronic water cooler, we realized it just might be worth checking out. At best it would be a way to save our arms from hauling drinks from the Safeway. At worst we could experiment with re-carbonating flat beer and see if we could convert it into a psychedelic fizzy lava lamp.

Without further delay, we sent away for our very own Edition 1 Soda Club home soda maker. Within days we received a large box containing the machine, a number of flavor syrups (more on those later), five carbonating bottles, and an instruction manual. According to the scary looking legal disclaimer, we technically didn't own the bottle of pressurized CO2, we instead had a license to use it for up to 5 years, or it was empty. This was serious business.

As we had not had much experience handling liquefied gasses, we were somewhat anxious about installing the pressurized canister. Although we imagined liquid gas squirting out of the machine wildly, the installation was disappointingly uneventful -- you simply screwed it into the back of the machine. Since it runs on the pressure of the gas it doesn't require power. With the gas in place, we were ready to carbonate.

For the next step we filled one of the included one-liter plastic bottles with cold water and screwed it into the front of the machine. We pushed the button on the top the suggested 3-5 times to inject the water with CO2. Then came the tricky part. The Soda Club folks are pretty firm about only adding the flavor syrups after carbonating the water. We imagine any other process would result in a Willy Wonka-style disaster with the kitchen filling with carbonated foam. Adding the flavor syrup was the trickiest part, because if you pour too fast the water has a tendency to overflow. The flavors included in our kit were cola, diet cola, orange, orange mango, root beer, grape, diet grapefruit, and energy drink. (The company offers a number of others.) In general we found the sodas we produced tasted pretty much the same as their store brand versions. We found the energy drink the most intriguing: although it didn't contain taurine, it served up a hefty caffeine punch and was fortified with vitamin B, much like Red Bull. The only catch -- a refill bottle of the energy drink mix costs $10, versus $3 or $4 for standard flavors.

In the end, we're torn about whether the machine is worth the $100 it would have cost at retail. The company claims the gas canister will carbonate 110 liter bottles of water, and the company says each syrup bottle (we were provided 8) makes about 12 liters. In the end, the price seems like it could be slightly more affordable than lugging it home from the store, and the liter bottles held the carbonation well. If you entertain frequently the machine could help serve up your tonic and generic Red Bull for mixed drinks, and we found it surprisingly novel. Users who intend only to make soda water should opt for a soda siphon. Our only complaint? The Edition 1 machine we were sent looks as sophisticated as an ugly grey plastic squirt gun sitting on our counter. The company's "Penguin" machine is a bit more suave -- but it will set you back a hefty $280.