Whether or not you’re a Craft Beer drinker, you’ve heard of
social media sites like Facebook, Twitter and Google+. These sites and their corresponding
mobile apps help you keep in touch with friends and family. They help you share
information about your life, hobbies, and just about anything else you can
think of. In this day and time, whenever you want to share anything, just pull
out your phone, and check in. What Craft Beer drinkers may not know, is that there
are mobile apps that help share your beer drinking experiences as well. Of the
many apps available, Untappd is my favorite. And no, that’s not a typo, UNTAPPD
no E.
Untappd is an easy to use, fun way to share which Craft
Beers you’re drinking. You not only get to share your beer of the moment,
but you can see what your friends are enjoying as well. When you “check in” you
can rate the brew, as well as leave a brief description. This allows everyone
to see exactly what you thought of the beer. In addition to that, you can also
add a photo of the beverage. I use these features a lot when beer shopping. With
so many different Craft Beers available for consumption, it’s hard to remember
which ones I’ve had, or how I enjoyed the ones I did experience. It is kind of
like a beer journal. Another feature I really enjoy are the badges. You
accumulate different badges for various accomplishments or actions. For
example, you get a badge for checking into different amounts of “distinct” beers.
Not only does the app keep track of how many overall times you’ve checked in,
it also lets you know how many of those beers where new to you. If you have never
logged into a beer before, that counts as a unique or distinct brew. You can gets badges
for everything from checking in at different bars or night clubs, to drinking a
certain amount of the same style beer. I’m not going to lie, I think the badges
make me drink more. They make you feel like a beer drinking Boy Scout on a
Craft Beer mission.
Ok, let me digress for a second. I personally think that
apps like this are great for the growth of Craft Beer. They are a free way for
breweries to get their name out. I have quite a few friends on Untappd from
different locations of the country, and when they check into something I’ve
never heard of before, it makes me want to try it even more. By being able to
rate the brew you’re drinking, your friends can make an educated decision on
the next beer they buy. This is a tool that I think more breweries will use to
see how the public feels about the beer they produce, resulting in better beer
for the rest of us. Not only that, most beer drinkers are guys, and men are competitive.
When you see that your friend has 500 unique check ins, you naturally want to
have more check ins yourself. This causes me to buy something new almost every
time I buy beer.
Back to the app. If you are the type of person that would
download Untappd, you probably have Facebook and/or Twitter. Untappd allows you
to connect your account to those sites as well, making it easy to share your
Craft Beer with your other social media friends. After a long night of bar hopping,
Foursquare integration makes it easy for you to remember exactly where you
consumed each brew. Another useful function
that takes advantage of Foursquare is the “Near By” features. If you are out of
town and need to find a place to consume Craft Beer, use the Near By Bars or
Near By Breweries tab. Untappd helps make Craft Beer more than just a beverage,
it’s helping make Craft Beer a community. So next time you’re browsing through the Google
Play Store or the itunes App Store, download Untappd. Be sure to tell your
friends, and while you’re at it, friend me. You can find me at Nick_BhamBeerBuzz, let's all drink together.
