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.