I’m not big on to-do lists (or lists in general), but I keep one list updated pretty religiously: my favorite – and least favorite – beers. I’ll try just about any locally brewed or new craft beer I haven’t had before, and my biggest problem isn’t remembering which ones I’ve tried, it’s remembering which ones I’ve actually liked and which ones I want to avoid in the future.
Until recently, I’d kept two separate task lists inside Gmail. One’s called “Beers I Like” and the other’s called – you guessed it – “Beers I Don’t Like”. Each time I came across a beer I’d had before, I’d pull up each list to check whether I liked it or not the first time I had it.
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The problem with this, of course (aside from having two lists), is that there’s no gray area. Beers I sort of liked or sort of didn’t like never made either list. Or sometimes they’d make a list and the next time I ordered a particular beer, I’d wonder why I’d put it on whichever list I’d put it on.
In the interest of creating a more robust system for myself, I started using a new web app called BrewTrackr. It’s basically a personal list of beers you can cobble together, rating each beer on a scale from one to five and leaving comments for yourself with tasting notes.
There are no dedicated apps for iPhone or Android yet – the team says they’re in development – but the mobile web version of BrewTrackr has thankfully been built with quick access in mind. It’s been far less cumbersome than pulling up Gmail task lists, at least, though I’ll most likely use the dedicated apps once they’re ready — especially if they offer speedier offline access to my selections when cell service is spotty.
You can friend other BrewTrackr users and check out the “Public Activity Stream” to see each beer as it’s added by each user, but I don’t feel the need to embrace all the social aspects of the service. People can see when I’ve added beers and follow me Twitter-style, which I’m okay with, but if there was a way to make my account private, I’d do it. That’s mostly because I’m using it for my own personal records, though. If you’re looking for an even more social-first beer app, I have some friends that really like Untappd.
But if you just want a quick and easy method for keeping track of your favorite and least favorite beers – gray areas and all – BrewTrackr a pretty straightforward way to do it. Any beer lovers out there with suggestions for similar apps I should check out?
[via Beta List]
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