Killer Beer Apps

Time For Beer

For some people, it's always beer o'clock. Other people could use a reminder.

I may be the only person in Los Angeles without a cell phone. I had one briefly but then the charger went AWOL. My subconscious wanted the thing gone. Why am I telling you this? It’s not because I need to hear another list of reasons of why I need to have a droid or rollover minutes. Everyone knows the cell phone has become the Swiss Army knife of modern times. But what does pique my interest are the apps. Specifically the craft beer apps. Of course, the latest technology would be used by the craft beer world. They are all over Facebook and if I were on Twitter, I would see them (or 140 character representations of them) there, as well.

So I thought, I would filter through the apps of beers pouring into an imaginary glass on a phone, (The real thing is so much better), and find apps that will truly help in navigating the giant world of beer. I looked at quite a few, my eyes started to glaze after 250 apps, some of which seemed to have been mere marketing tools for the industrial beer makers. Most ranged in price from free to around $5. Several apps had free starters then moved to professional products for three or four dollars. There is even an app for beer nutrition facts. Here is my list of apps that had the best features in regards to the price and were not only useful in Portland or Delaware. (There is an app to find Dogfish Head locations).

Tap Hunter (free) is a new online service that allows you to search for your favorite craft beer on tap at breweries, beer pubs, local bars, etc. It started with San Diego and will roll out to other cities after the beta period. It can also give you suggestions if you are feeling unsure as to what you want.

Gallagher’s Beer Guide ($0.99) offers many services related to learning about craft beer, defining styles, flavor profiles and even a note pad to make your own notes.

Beer Brands (free) brings you 7,800 beers at the tap of finger, along with more details you could ever want for each beer. You can find out what food to eat it with, what brewery it comes from, the alcohol content, what glass to serve it in, and much more.

Beer Hero ($1.99) offers GPS advice to help you make the best possible decision on where your next beer might be at. Their beer database provides information on over 1600 beers, 1100 micro-breweries and brew pubs and over 70 meal/beer combinations.

BJCP Style Guidelines (free) are available as an app. Very handy when judging questions need to be answered immediately. The iPhone can be your study guide for those taking the exam.

Beer Pad ($3.99) allows you to always have your beer notes with you; right on your iPhone. You can record your thoughts about the beers you try, rate the beers you try, photograph the beer, search past beers by favorites or by brewery.

Find Craft Beer ($0.99) is similar to Beer Hero but also adds into the mix brewpubs, beer stores and homebrew shops.

Of course there are many, many beer related apps but I want to keep you connected to the world of good craft beer not to the world of beer pong.

The beer of the week is a great choice for Thanksgiving. Rugbrod from The Bruery is a new juylberg style Danish beer that is brewed with 30% rye malt and resembles the dark brown, dense rye bread of Scandinavia in both smell and taste. It has some great spice notes and should hold its own against anything except maybe a turducken.

Find more of Sean Inman’s writing on his blog, Beer Search Party.

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Sean Inman

Find more of Sean Inman's writing on his blog, Beer Search Party.

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If you are running low on brain cells, BEER NUMBER is a cool iphone app to help you pick a brew. Cheers!

you need to get a cell phone man. or at least a skype account haha. if i had an iphone or was active on facebook, I’d find these apps very useful. i’ll reference them if i end up getting an iphone later on.

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