There are not very many beer apps or websites, besides the odd blog, that I visit regularly.  I used to use the Good Beer Guide in England, but now I don’t live in England anymore.  BeerAdvocate is the only constant, mostly for their comprehensive directory, which I consult when travelling.  Even that is a pain in the ass to use, why no maps?  I’ve finally found a non terrible beer app that I feel like I could habitually use (if there are other good apps, please let me know).

Untappd is a sort of beer social network you can use via the web or iPhone app (I think they have an Android app too, but who cares?).  Essentially it lets you easily record what you’re drinking wherever you are.  This is handy for me because I find myself frequently saying “hey man I had the best beer the other day and I remember nothing about it”.  You can also follow breweries, track friends, create wishlists, rate beers, and a bunch more. I will use this to track my own beer drinking and maybe contribute the odd non-extensive beer review (how many BeerAdvocate reviews can you read before desiring suicide?).

Things I like about Untappd:

• I can track my beer drinking on my iPhone
• It actually finds beer I search for
• Breweries can choose to control their fan pages
• A person I know has actually used it before
• Feels way less pretentious than BeerAdvocate

Things I don’t like about Untappd:

• A bit awkward usability wise
• I don’t need anymore virtual social networks
• Can’t find a way to invite people

Seriously, in the age of apps demanding you invite every Facebook friend and person you’ve ever emailed before you’ve tried them, how can there not even be one invite mechanism in Untappd?  Oh well, I guess they don’t want more users.

Anyway, if you want to be my Untappd beer drinking buddy, my id is carichardson.  I just got started, but I’m going to give it a serious go around.  I feel like Untappd has a lot of potential and I recommend it to any interested beer drinker.

Cheers,

Chris