For the past 8 months I have been religiously recording every beer that I drink. I am doing this with an app called Untappd and it has changed the way I drink beer. The app is super intuitive and easy to use.
Whether I’m in a pub, restaurant or at home cracking open a can or bottle of beer, the first thing I do is scan the bar code (if possible) or do a search for the beer name. Once the beer has been found in the database, I check it in. If I am at a pub or restaurant I insert the location (useful for others).
Next up I take a photo of the glass of beer, bottle or can and attach it to the check-in. One doesn’t have to take a photo (but a photo is worth a thousands words).
Then I take a big sip. (This is the best part of the process). Depending on how delicious or disgusting the beer tastes, I write a short one liner and rate it on a scale of 0 to 5. (Surprisingly there have been a few zero rated beers and those brewers should be ashamed of themselves).
Finally I add the beer to my Untappd profile. If I am drinking from a beer can, depending on the moment, I take a POV (point of view) photo and upload it to my Instagram account and add a few key hashtags. Craft beer photography is HUGE on Instagram.
Depending on how many beers I have drunk in a certain category (e.g. IPA, witbier, ales, bitters, pilsners, stouts etc.), or week or month, Untappd rewards me with a badge. It sounds cheesy, but it’s what makes this app so great! There are dozens of badges to be had and each one acts like a reward and shows a goal that has been achieved.
Beer drinking has become exciting. To make it extra special I decided to drink as many unique beers where possible. Given there are so many great beers out there, it doesn’t make sense to drink the same beer over and over again, unless it has a 5 star rating, then it’s a no brainer.
Untappd can also be accessed via their website and if you are a subscription user one can download all your stats in XLS/CSV/JSON format, or see graphs, personal statistics and even a map showing the locations you have drunk beer! It is super cool.
What makes it a social app is its ability to track your friends or anyone drinking beer and thus it encourages friendship. One can search for friends or you can follow anyone with an untappd account, provided they allow you in as a friend. One can even comment on friends or send a cheers (it’s similar to a like). It is a great way to discover new beer or to find out about a beer or its brewery or to see it’s overall rating. I highly recommend this untappd.
If you want to follow me on Untappd do a search for lookatbowen, likewise I am on Instagram with the same name.
P.S. All images were taken by me and all the content was written by me. The logo is registered to me as well.