Beer, Motorcycles and Cigars — Beer, Bikes and Butts

Any app that can help with the task of finding and researching beer is okay in my book.  I found a couple that now hold places of honor on my iPhone.

The problems with so many iPhone apps that rely on data bases is that the data is so sparse that they little more than novelties.  Both of these apps did a really good job of finding the information they were supposed to find.

BeerCompass

The very cool BeerCompass app finds the bars, pubs, and taverns closest to you and detects the very quickest path to beer refreshment.  When you open the app, two beer angels drop down with a large compass.  Just touch the  screen, and BeerCompass takes you to the nearest beer joint.  Select one of the search results, and you are taken to Google maps for directions to said beer joint.

A nice touch is that the sounds of a bar play while you are reviewing the search results, getting you in the mood for being among fellow beer drinkers.  It occurs to me this could be used to ditch calls (“sorry, I can’t hear you, it’s too loud in here”), although in most instances people are trying to hide the fact that they are at a bar.

The searches weren’t perfect – Jamba Juice came up as a beer destination – but most of the best beer establishments near me did appear in the list.

Available for just .99 at iTunes.

BeerCloud

Powered by GreatBrewers.com, BeerCloud can track down your favorite beers in your neighborhood, and provide information about the beer and brewer. 

BeerCloud simplifies the process of picking a beer while you are staring at the racks at your favorite liquor store, and/or knowing what you are drinking once you get it.

I entered a number of beers, and it nailed most of them, returning extensive information.  Supposedly you can take a picture of the barcode on a beer, and it will callup the information, but I sure couldn’t get it to work.  But that’s a minor point, since it’s probably faster just to type a few letters from the name of the beer and find it that way.

The app is free, and is also available for Android devices.

 

Posted on May 6th, 2010 by Aaron Morris
Filed under: Bargains, Beer, Beer Facts, Reviews