cocktailnerd - A blog of most things cocktail and alcohol related

Dec 11

iPhone Cocktail App Reviews: Drink Genie

Cocktail Apps, Fight Night! 2 Comments »

I will continue to review iPhone cocktail apps as we move into 2010 and beyond. The application I’m reviewing in this edition is “Drink Genie,” an application developed by Synitech Studio whose 10,000+ recipes were entered “…individually, by a licensed bartender.” Given that simply paying my $60 to the Alcoholic Beverage Laws Enforcement commission of Oklahoma confers upon me the title “licensed bartender” you’ll understand why that claim doesn’t do much for me. But, as always, a preface in case this is your first time reading one of these reviews. I’m evaluating the applications in 5 areas:

Usability: Intuitive search functions? Screen go dark too quickly? Conversion options? This will tell you.
Quality and Depth: Does its Mai Tai call for Creme de Noyaux? Is it chock-full of 20 “Sex on the Beach” variations? If so, fail.
Features: Is it feature-rich with background information on drinks? Does it allow favorites and ratings to be stored/sorted. If so, it should fare well.
Likability: Subjective, but important. If the app is fun to use or gorgeously-designed or is simply a pleasure to use, it will gain high marks here.
Value: Charging me $1.99 for an advertisement-addled flaky piece of crap? Screw you, buddy! Giving me 2,000 recipes with quality photos and background information on the drinks from trusted sources for $3.99? Not bad! You get the idea.

All of these factors, at a weighting of my own choosing at that particular moment, will go into a final overall rating. Today’s review is on Drink Genie:

Drink Genie
	Usability	Drink Genie opens to an odd screen that allows you change vibration/sound settings and then asks you for a “Bar Name” which leads one to think it is a Bar/Club search application. But no, it seems Drink Genie’s primary concern is that you personalize it with your home bar’s ingredients so it can whittle the enormity of its database to better suit your needs. This seems to me an admission that the scope of the database is too large to be useful and the designers maybe should have thought better of including that many recipes in the first place. There is a traditional search function (in which the “(S)limey Coconut” is listed first…yay!) and it is fairly intuitive and dynamic. The favorites is also straight-forward and will gently, and in a far too chipper tone, tell you if your favorites list is woefully lacking and has nothing in it. The “myBar” function where you add and manage your ingredients can be a tad cumbersome and quirky. The scroll bar where you sort through ingredients sometimes fails to detect your touch as it “locks in” the ingredient you’ve highlighted and you have to deliberately remove your finger from the touch screen and replace it to indicate you want to navigate further. A solution without a problem I’m afraid. The saved list of ingredients can be very counterintuitive to edit, add, and delete ingredients from. I’m sure you could become expert in managing the lists but the recipes had better be worth your while to put forth that much effort.
Price: $.99	Quality/Depth:	The depth of this library of drink can’t be denied. It can’t be admired either. I could forgive the inclusion of “Cream de Spooge” and the “Monkey Poop Shooter” if the quality of recipes for the classics weren’t atrocious and/or there were quality photographs or drawings of the drinks. Instead, the user is treated to the recipes for drinks like the Bronx and the Martinez being displayed with a shoddy graphic that shows a tall glass with a lime wheel garnish. Most of the classic recipes aren’t so far off-the-mark as to warrant a raiding of Synitech Studio’s corporate offices but they also aren’t the most accurate or even pleasant. The Martinez is of the dry vermouth/triple sec variety and the Mai Tai makes the usual sort of blunder by including amaretto and pineapple juice. The glossary’s “Techniques & Tools” section includes some valuable information but consists primarily of unhelpful lists. The “Drinking Games” reference section is amusing and grotesque in equal parts.
	Features:	The search function for Drink Genie only takes the drink name into account. And while it does allow you to choose a category of drink to use as a filter (though I’m not sure how helpful filtering by “Tabasco Shots” or “Mind Eraser Drinks” is), it doesn’t take into account searching by a base spirit or ingredient. Sure, you could enter all of your ingredients in the convoluted “myBar” feature and then filter by “Drinks I Can Make” but, seriously? Your “features” are turning into massive amounts of work for me, Genie. And here I thought the point of a genie was to grant me effortless wishes. The “Random” feature is cute with its genie lamp that you rub (complete with progress meter to indicate when you’ve rubbed hard and long enough!) though three random selections granted me the Pink Forest (gin, cream, triple sec, strawberry juice), Red Hurricane (limon rum, tequila, cranberry cocktail juice), and Three Stages of Friendship (shot of whiskey, tequila, 151-proof rum). In other words, this is one genie, like Robin Williams, that you wish would just leave you the hell alone. The Blood Alcohol Content calculator is fairly easy-to-use and well-designed. On its accuracy or reputation, I couldn’t say.
Producer: Synitech Studio, LLC	Likability/Value:	This app is attractively-built and there are a few style elements and functions I would consider including in my “dream cocktail app” but it doesn’t offer anything superior to stand apart from the crowd. It tries a bit too hard to be fun and in the process crams too many things into a small space and limits its usability in the process. Not as overtly annoying as iShot Machine, Dream Genie (even at $.99) has little to recommend it.
	Overall:	Rating: Dream Genie is no longer available to US customers through the iTunes store. I’m not sure why but it appears Synitech Studio may no longer be in operation. If it is available outside the US, avoid it. Rubbing the lamp will get you nothing but heartache, by all accounts the BAC in iDrinkSmart is a better tool, and drinking games it lists like “Suck & Chug” will only bring to mind how better your time could be spent. There are aesthetic elements it gets right, but like too much rouge on your newly-divorced aunt who’s on the prowl, it’s mostly saddening.

Read cocktailnerd’s other iPhone Cocktail App Reviews:

Dec 08

A Cocktailian Christmas List

Call to Arms 4 Comments »

christmas is here, let's have a drink, christmas is here, let's have a drink Save the cocktail, save the world…or, less dramatically, Christmas. As a cocktail enthusiast, there’s little more depressing than having to open yet another wine bottle gift bag full of booze I can get a half mile away at the liquor store. Hell, not even my favorite liquor store. Mind you, the Tanqueray 10 and the Appleton Extra and the Blanton’s Bourbon are all welcome and will be put to good use, but they don’t excite us the way you hope. If you really want to thrill a cocktailian, be they friend, family, or spouse, then here are some items that they might not already have or, if they do, have to go out of their way to acquire and will appreciate the effort and thoughtfulness. However, if you’re in a pinch and looking for a present at a liquor store on the way to our house, here are some brief pointers: Tanqueray 10 over Bombay Sapphire, Noah’s Mill or Rowan’s Creek over Blanton’s, we’ll buy our own cocktail glasses , and, dear god in heaven’s judy, anything over vodka.

Cheapies:

Ice Ball Molds (~$16.95):
These “Ice Big Ball” molds from Japan do a fine job of making ice spheres that are approximately 2″ in diameter. The design of the two-piece mold is fairly ingenious and though you won’t get true clarity with them, they are sure to amuse guests and chill your whiskey in style. You can find them on eBay or get a two-ball version at the MoMa online store.

TraderTiki’s Tropical Syrups ($9.00/bottle):
Blair, at tradertiki.com, has been promoting quality tiki drinking and tropical mixology for many years. He’s just rolled out a new line of syrups that make tiki drinks more accessible and replace the insipid orgeat at cinnamon syrup products on the shelves. I highly recommend the Cinnamon Syrup and Orgeat for those new to mixing tiki drinks and the Don’s Mix if you’ve been around the block a few times. Great products at a great price for 375ml worth.

He’s also offering a Gift Pack which, for all orders placed by December 12th, will be shipped by the 14th and arrive in time to warm the heart of your favorite mixologist. Plus, you’re likely to get a hell of a drink out of them afterward.

Japanese Barspoons ($15.95-36.95):
These japanese barspoons have become some of my favorite tools at my bar. The trident looks terribly nifty when you get a good stir going and the turning and machining of the spiral along the arm is very smooth and goes the full length of the shaft . The bowl of the spoon is also turned in nicely and measures out at an almost perfect 1/8oz. They’re very easy on the fingers and superior to the original trident spoons offered by Cocktail Kingdom. I suggest starting with the 32-33cm versions but any of them will do your bartender proud.

Reasonable:

Yarai Mixing Glasses ($36.95-49.95):
The Yarai Mixing Glass (again from Japan) has also become an attractive and useful part of my bar. The additional width it gives you for stirring, compared to a traditional mixing glass, makes it much easier to get a fluid and quick rotation started and the bottom-heavy weighting makes it much more secure and allows for one-handed stirring with less sweating. The seamless one is slightly more expensive (and I can vouch for the sizable seam on the $36.95 version) so if aesthetics are of primary importance to you then opt for the seamless.

Cocktail Kingdom also offers an array of other mixing glasses included weighted, tall, and stemmed versions. Any of these will make stirring more fulfilling and flashy.

Out-of-Print Cocktail Books ($29.00-99.00):
It’s hard to find, much less justify buying, out-of-print cocktail books to help build out our collections. A “can’t miss” way to please your cocktail swilling friends is to gift them a copy of any of these. Hell, we don’t much mind the condition given they’re likely to be put to work amongst the muddlers, ice debris, and bitter-stained tops of our bars. Here are a few I heartily recommend:
“Esquire Drinks” by David Wondrich (a great price right now),
“Jones’ Complete Bar Guide“, by Stan “Mutha-uckin’” Jones (you may have to dig around for this one, but it is highly-prized), and
“Cocktail: The Drinks Bible for the 21st Century“, by Paul Harrington and Laura Moorhead (a book at the leading edge of the online cocktail revival, the recipes are top-notch)

Cocktail Glassware ($39.95-??):
There are strong feelings about whether the 45 degree angled cocktail glass is a boon to or the bane of the bartender’s craft but it can’t be disputed that they are iconic and coupe and older more steeply-sided small glassware is hard to come by. So, all that said, I love my Reidel Vinum cocktail glasses. They are perfectly sized at 4.5oz capacity and are not so tall or lanky to feel risky to use, not to mention classy-looking as hell. They also aren’t so outrageously expensive to warrant keeping them out-of-circulation and unused. You can try to dig up vintage cocktail glasses but it can be hit-and-miss and nearly impossible to find something that meets the right combination of size and style. These fit the bill nicely.

Absurd Silliness:

Bartender’s Kit Bag ($???-660.00):
Jim Meehan, of PDT fame and winner of the vote for “Best Bartender” at Tales of the Cocktail, has designed an exceptional, and ludicrously-priced, bartender’s utility bag . It’s gloriously useful and beautifully designed but, unfortunately, does not come with any of the barware you’ll find pictured with it. Do I want one? Absolutely. Should I have one? Certainly not. Unless the recipient is a full-time bartender who travels between sites often and is meticulous about using their own kit, it’s a bit much. Another option, though still pricey, is using an old doctor’s kit bag. There are often interesting finds on eBay and some even come with all the old gear… creepy and exciting.

Ice Ball Mold (Mark II) ($160.00-1200.00):
Ice Ball Molds of this sort differ from the ice trays above in that a solid block of ice is set in between the heated weights and an ice ball is formed from it. This allows for much more clarity in the ice ball since any section from a large block can be chunked off and used to form a sphere. In other words, awesome. You can buy them in sizes ranging from 33mm-80mm and you will pay accordingly. I’d suggest at least 55mm if you’re going to bother (nevermind that $800 jump in price!). Messy, dazzling, and fun.

Kold Draft Ice Machine ($2700.00-5000.00 + installation):
You can’t do much better than gifting a personal Kold Draft machine if money is no object. They produce exceptionally cold ice at just over 1″ square (or other dimensions) and they handily replace the 8 Tovolo square ice cube trays your pal has been using since you’ve known them. Obviously making sure the giftee’s space allows for installation and doesn’t mind the increase in his or her water bill, should you choose a water-cooled unit, are considerations before buying. I recommend the GT350 for home or personal use. Oh, and do the recipient a favor and get the service plan on the unit, they’re notoriously temperamental.

Odds and Ends:
Anvil Ice Pick $47.95 (I love this thing)
Kuhn-Rikon Paring Knives $10.00 (I have 4 that I rotate)
Smith & Cross Jamaican Rum $28.99 (My single favorite spirit of late)
Vintage Ice Crusher $10.00-30.00
Bitter Truth and Bittermen’s Bitters (get the whole damned line)
Lewis Bag (bonus points if you include a wooden mallet of doom)
Parisian Shaker or Parisian Shaker +10 defense against lameness (The second is my favorite but may not be available)

Oct 09

iPhone Cocktail App Reviews: Flip ‘N Drink

Cocktail Apps, Fight Night! 4 Comments »

I will continue to review iPhone cocktail apps this month and, likely, well into 2010. The first application I’ll review in October is the progeny of one of the greats in the pantheon of cocktailians, Gary Regan, whose book “The Joy of Mixology,” was a prime motivator in convincing me to start a cocktail and spirits blog. Lucky you. But, as always, a preface in case this is your first time reading one of these reviews. I’m evaluating the applications in 5 areas:

Usability: Intuitive search functions? Screen go dark too quickly? Conversion options? This will tell you.
Quality and Depth: Does its Mai Tai call for Creme de Noyaux? Is it chock-full of 20 “Sex on the Beach” variations? If so, fail.
Features: Is it feature-rich with background information on drinks? Does it allow favorites and ratings to be stored/sorted. If so, it should fare well.
Likability: Subjective, but important. If the app is fun to use or gorgeously-designed or is simply a pleasure to use, it will gain high marks here.
Value: Charging me $1.99 for an advertisement-addled flaky piece of crap? Screw you, buddy! Giving me 2,000 recipes with quality photos and background information on the drinks from trusted sources for $3.99? Not bad! You get the idea.

All of these factors, at a weighting of my own choosing at that particular moment, will go into a final overall rating. Today’s review is on Flip ‘N Drink:

Flip ‘N Drink
	Usability	Flip ‘N Drink is no-nonsense. It drops you immediately to the picture of the first drink the first time it’s booted. It leaves a user left to wonder what to do next, but the quality of the photograph definitely inspires you to touch and interact with it. Once you realize you can tap the screen to get to the recipe (nicely presented in ml with oz conversions in parentheses), you find that a nicely displayed recipe is presented in a readable format that, thank goodness, doesn’t require you to flip back-and-forth between the ingredients and the method or to scroll around and gunk up your iPhone with having to touch it while handling sticky and disagreeable ingredients. One nice feature is the “Cocktailian COnversations” and “If you like this drink, try…” features at the bottom of each recipe. The “Cocktailian Conversations” are sometimes informative about the drink’s roots or construction and other times whimsical, cute, and, ultimately, unhelpful if entertaining. The “If you like this drink…” feature is easy to use and seems well cross-referenced as you’ll see below. This is a very lean but highly usable app. I do wish it allowed the user to tilt the screen and/or display the recipe on a full-black background as the image of the cocktail occasionally gets in the way of readability. I also wish the damned thing wouldn’t time out and go dark (again forcing the user to gum up the screen if using the app while making a drink). Otherwise, the app’s features are well-designed and intuitive.
Price: $3.99	Quality/Depth:	Flip ‘N Drink does an excellent job when it comes to a balance of depth and quality. I estimate that it has between 1,300-1,500 recipes and I found that almost every recipe I reviewed had at least one element to recommend it, whether it be the method, the style, or an intriguing blend or ingredients one usually doesn’t consider. As for the “baseline” cocktails I’m keeping an eye to when reviewing these iPhone apps, Flip ‘N Drink does itself proud. The Mai Tai actually quotes the infamous “17-year-old J. Wray Nephew Jamaican Rum” as its base spirit which manages to make it both historically accurate and nigh impossible to make all-at-once. In fact, I could almost count the lack of an alternate recipe as a mark against the application if it wasn’t so heart-warming and charming to see. The app is trustworthy where the other cocktails such as the Bronx, Margarita, and Mojito are concerned. All reliable recipes, all resulting in good classic drinks. The only irksome trend I saw amongst the recipes was a tendency to plug in variations that call for brand-specific ingredients. For example, instead of titling a margarita variation that incorporates amaretto as an “Italian Margarita,” it lists the recipe as the “Disaranno Margarita.” It’s like a brand’s press release has insidiously insinuated itself onto your phone. The recipes don’t seem terrible or shockingly out-of-place but they are a bit jolting.
	Features:	Flip ‘N Drink is very lean and no-nonsense in terms of features. The images are presented, you pick a drink, there is some additional information and cross-referencing of drinks, and you can choose to favorite it and build “Your Bar.” Outside of that, there’s not much else going on except for the search function. And, the search function poses some problems. When you access the search page the app displays the full list of recipes capped by a search field into which, after you press it, a keypad comes up and as you type the list of recipes decreases until your search has eliminated everything except what you’re potentially looking for. However, instead of being able to click on the recipe in the list you want which, again, has been dynamically changing in the background to meet your criteria, you still have to press “Search” to access the list of recipes. Perhaps it’s just me and this is a minor quibble, but these are the types of user-interface oversights that make me crazy. That, and the screen darkening too quickly to make it useful in real-time to mix a drink. The “Ingredient” search option also suffers for a mishmash and disorganized list of categories which funnel into sub-categories and ingredients. They aren’t well-constructed and lead to problems such as the “Champagne & Sparkling Wine” category including subcategories such as “GH Mumm Champagne,” “champagne,” “Moet & Chandon White Star,” etc. It makes navigating through categories of ingredients clumsy and nearly useless. This is a big area of opportunity for this application in future revisions.
Producer: Jolt OS & Ardent Spirits	Likability/Value:	This app is missing the sheer voluminous mass of Cocktails+, the deep and specific appreciation shown by Tiki+, and the finesse of 101 Cocktails but manages to carve its own worthy place in the field of available apps. The photography makes it very attractive, I like that it avoids Pocket Cocktails’ mistakes in managing instructions and ingredients, and the additional bits of humor and detail attached to the drinks give it a style that smacks with great gusto of Gary Regan himself. The search function detracts from its charms but for the most part it’s a friendly and very useful application that gives a respectable value at $3.99.
	Overall:	Rating: If you already have 101 Cocktails and Cocktail+ then this is likely to feel redundant to you. However, if I was to present a “Best Overall Cocktail Application” or “Best Cocktail Application for n00bs” this might be the one I’d choose at this point in my reviews. It’s not overburdened with ostentatious social media features or the gimmickry of shaking noises and bells and whistles and it strikes a very good balance of approachability in the difficulty and styles of recipes, quality of recipes and information, and educational value. There are some glitches and hiccups when it comes to the search functions and how the ingredients are organized but if you stick to basic browsing of recipes and as a way of expanding your threadbare repertoire it will take you some very good places. Worth having in your library as a starting point or if you don’t already have 20 other iPhone cocktail applications installed (ahem).

Read cocktailnerd’s other iPhone Cocktail App Reviews:

Sep 23

Last Night’s Dogbite: The Bumblebee

Angostura, Bitters, Drinkage, Rum 13 Comments »

bumblebee
When you read one of Charles Baker’s Gentlemen’s Companions you’re in for a delightful romp through his travels, misfortunes, egotism, and name-dropping. They’re lively and fun reads. When you try to parse a recipe from one of Charles Baker’s Gentlemen’s Companions you’re in for a headache. By way of example, here’s the text from Baker’s description of the Pendennis Club cocktail:

“THE PENDENNIS CLUB’S FAMOUS SPECIAL
To 1 jigger of dry gin add 1/2 jigger of the best dry apricot brandy procurable. Squeeze in the juice of 1 lime or 1/2 a small lemon, strained of course, and trim with 2 dashes of Peychaud’s bitters which has been made for generations in New orleans…Split a ripe kumquat, now available during the winter in most big grocery or fruit stores; take out the seeds and put the two halves in a Manhattan glass. Stir the drink like a Martini with lots of cracked ice and strain onto the golden fruit. This is a sweeter Grande Bretagne, see Page 47.”

I’ll hand this to the man, by the time you’re breathlessly done reading his recipe entries, you’re certainly ready for a drink. Fortunately, thanks to the efforts of Martin Doudoroff (one of the fine people behind cocktaildb.com) and St. John Frizell there is a “Charles H. Baker, Jr. Companion” that assembles the recipes into a more readable and usable format. You know, a Companion to the Companions, so to speak. Many of Baker’s recipes are suspect at best and absymal at their worst, and the Bumblebee is a nice gem found in the pages of Baker’s South American Gentlemen’s Companion. It is a deceptive drink in that it looks simple enough but reveals a lot about the quality of your rum and the fastidiousness of your preparation when it’s served. Here’s the recipe excerpted from the book:

The BUMBLE-BEE COCKTAIIL–May God Forgive the British-Inspired Pun-Title–a Nice Rum-Honey Thought from Georgetown, British Guiana.

That same old world-wandering friend J.K.L. Ponsonby-Foulcques, the “Jekyll” of Bin-’n'-Gitters fame, Page 24 gave us this unusual, simple yet satisfying drink, also. Mix in shaker:

2 oz best medium dark rum

1 1/2 to 2 tsp strained honey

2 tsp or so, lime Juice

2 tsp fresh egg white

Curl Orange Peel

Drops Angostura

Shake hard with big ice and strain into pre-chilled stemmed cocktail glass. Dot with 3 or 4 drops Angostura Bitters, and twist curl of orange peel over finished drink for fragrant scent.

I was introduced to the Bumblebee by the fine work they do at Heaven’s Dog in San Francisco and love this drink when the seasons change between summer and fall. Using an aged rum with no small amount of “oomph” is paramount in this drink. Something along the lines of Angostura 1919, Appleton V/X, or Clement VSOP will bring their character through the egg white and honey without overpowering the drink. Too dark or light a rum, however, and the Bumblebee loses its charm.

The proportions of lime juice and honey can be toyed with and doing so is a good exercise in discovering how a rum’s character is affected and brought out by the changes. As for the egg white, measuring out 2tsp can be troublesome so I highly suggest placing an egg white or three in one of those condiment squeeze bottles you see at picnics and cook-outs and dispensing a carefully-measured amount of egg white. Using too much or too little egg will surely kill the drink (thanks to Rumdood for the dispensing tip). It’s a temperamental drink, I’ll admit.

Give this drink a try and practice your dry shaking to get a good froth on top of the drink as it’s key to getting the drops of Angostura to sit properly and keep them from dissolving the foam and sinking down into the drink before their time. My thanks to Erik Ellestad for the full excerpt from the South American Gentlemen’s Companion. On Baker’s writing, I’ll quote my good friend Doug who said, “He’d have been the greatest cocktail blogger of all time.” Likely true, likely true…the bastard.

The Bumblebee:Rating:

Sep 03

iPhone Cocktail App Reviews: Tiki+

Cocktail Apps, Fight Night!, Uncategorized 2 Comments »

The past couple of weeks (and, at this rate, for the rest of my natural-born life) I’ve been reviewing iPhone cocktail apps, and I’m continuing the stretch for a bit longer before taking a break. Today’s review is an extra-special edition and, I’ll wager at the end of it all, features one of the best of the lot (and the “lot” is large, upwards of 20 or so at last count). But, before we get to the nitty-gritty, you should know that I’m evaluating the applications in 5 areas:

Usability: Intuitive search functions? Screen go dark too quickly? Conversion options? This will tell you.
Quality and Depth: Does its Mai Tai call for Creme de Noyaux? Is it chock-full of 20 “Sex on the Beach” variations? If so, fail.
Features: Is it feature-rich with background information on drinks? Does it allow favorites and ratings to be stored/sorted. If so, it should fare well.
Likability: Subjective, but important. If the app is fun to use or gorgeously-designed or is simply a pleasure to use, it will gain high marks here.
Value: Charging me $1.99 for an advertisement-addled flaky piece of crap? Screw you, buddy! Giving me 2,000 recipes with quality photos and background information on the drinks from trusted sources for $3.99? Not bad! You get the idea.

All of these factors, at a weighting of my own choosing at that particular moment, will go into a final overall rating. Today’s review is on Tiki+, a cocktail app designed around and inspired by Jeff “Beachbum” Berry’s books Intoxica, Grog Log, Sippin’ Safari, and Taboo Table:

Tiki+
	Usability	Tiki+ starts up with a splash screen featuring Jeff Berry in full-on Zombie mode and immediately drops you into the full list of drinks with a sensible row of buttons along the bottom and a search bar at the top. Simple, inviting, and intuitive. The recipe list gives a preview of the ingredients involved in the drink and includes icons indicating the type of preparation and glass required to serve it. Very handy given that tiki drinks can often lead you to the depressing dead-end of a road saying to yourself, “Wait, I can’t make this, I don’t have ‘Don’s Spices’ …what the crap?” So having a preview of what’s involved and the potential difficulty-rating is a big plus. Once you access a recipe it gives a very straight-foward display of the ingredients, the method of preparation, and then a picture or drawing of the drink along with background information on its origins. You also have options to make the drink a favorite of yours or forward it via email, twitter, or facebook. Berry has always done a great job of being explicit and detailed in his instructions and the proper methods for making the drinks, as Tiki drinks, by their nature, rely on specific combinations of rums, spirits, syrups, and juices to create their unique profiles. As far as other niceties, the app allows you to adjust its settings to provide measurements in “Imperial”, two styles of metric format, and, for heaven’s sake, gills. Tiki+ also offers a feature I greatly treasure in an iPhone app, the ability to remain lit while viewing a recipe. Sure, you have to be careful to not leave the recipe up and drain your phone, but it’s far superior to having to unlock the phone and access the app again each time it times-out. Big win, especially when the drinks are Tiki-style and require the sub-contracting of several architects, civic planners, and mechanical engineers to create precisely to spec.
Price: $3.99	Quality/Depth:	The quality of drinks and depth of information on them, and Tiki in general, is unsurpassed. Granted, there aren’t 1,500 recipes- I clock it in around 200- but I defy you to find another iPhone cocktail application, aside from 101 Cocktails, that is so reliable in its recipes and the quality of drinking you’ll experience in trying them (except that Fog Cutter, damn that version is tart). It should also be noted that almost every recipe found in this app is unique to it. You won’t find the Cobra’s Fang, Penang Afrididi, or the Jet Pilot in any other source. Or, if you do, caveat emptor. Granted, except for the Mai Tai, this application doesn’t score well on the Mojito, Old Fashioned, or Bronx cocktails, but that’s because those sorts of drinks aren’t its purpose. Its purpose is singular and, for what it’s attempting, it’s unparalleled in achieving it.
	Features:	Tiki+ has a fairly basic set of features and, in addition to the recipes, has very good information on tiki’s history and origins, the use of crushed ice in tiki drinks, and a decent amount of helpful information on using the app and its features. The social networking component feels a bit tacked-on and restricts you to using specific Twitter apps from the iPhone. The default drink-sorting option, “Base”, seems a bit needless since of the nearly 200 drinks, 120 or so fall under “Rum.” However, once you go deeper into the app the drinks can be sorted by “Type”, “Flavor”, and “Tag” (e.g. 1930s, 1940s, Breakfast drinks, etc.) which are infinitely useful and interesting to browse through. No, there’s not a feature to “find the nearest bar” but, if you’re making use of this app, chances are you have no interest in visiting said bar and the likelihood of its being able to make 1/4 of the drinks found here is roughly the equivalent of Danny Bonaduce not being creepy in the extreme at any given moment.
Producer: Skorpiostech	Likability/Value:	This app is very likable in its design and feel as the Tiki elements play a role throughout and you’re almost certain to glean a new piece of information on any recipe or page you view. At $3.99 it is on the high end of the price range for cocktail apps but its unique content, reliability, and quality make it worth the purchase. The fact that it also includes recipes for the ingredients that may be hard-to-find or that have to be made at home (see: Don’s Spices mentioned above) also increase its value and ensure you’ll get the most from the intricate, and sometimes frustrating, recipes it includes.
	Overall:	Rating: This is one of my “must have” apps for any cocktail enthusiast that has an iPhone. Eminently usable, reliable in its recipes, and considerate in its design, this is one that will not steer you wrong and you’ll find an endless stream of gems to explore and enjoy. Sure, it would be nice to be able to add your own recipes and the photos could, occasionally, have a higher level of production-value but, my god, the garnish and mugs alone are feasts for the eyes. Jeff Berry has done all the footwork for us in researching, uncovering, and cajoling these recipes from the depths of ancient bartender’s secret notebooks and scribbled-upon drink menus. That it all comes together at $3.99 ranks it among the top 20 wonders of the modern world. You may get frustrated at the demands tiki drinks make of you and the effort you find yourself putting forth, but that only lasts until you’re into your second one.

BONUS

Want a chance to talk to Jeff Berry online and celebrate a night of Tiki drinks? Join us this evening, September 3rd, for Thursday Drink Night’s 1st Anniversary party. The Mixoloseum will be all a-buzz and a-twitter about this special event. here’s the announcement:

A year ago, this week, the revelry began. And if my sundial displays truth, the Mixoloseum has hosted 50 Thursday Drink Nights since that first mixological day. In that time, cocktail enthusiasts, writers, and bartenders have created over 500 original cocktails using everything from Fernet Branca to buttermilk. Guests who once came in fear of all the homemade syrups and bitters being slung about like fool’s gold in the chat room now make their own cinnamon syrup, have two local sources for Ting (in case one runs out), and don’t bat an eye when someone calls yellow Chartreuse instead of green.

We’ll be celebrating with rum, rain gods, and back scratchers this week, and Jeff Berry will be making an appearance to sling potions and generally be jealous that we have more homemade syrups than he does. The prizes are profuse, and the last tiki torch won’t be doused until the first rays of light creep across my sundial.

The Prizes

Best Original Tiki Drink – 50cm gold Japanese bar spoon (pictured at right)

Best Gin Cocktail – Bottle of Port of Barcelona gin signed by the distiller.

Best Absinthe Cocktail – Bottle of Obsello absinthe signed by the distiller.

Best Spiced Rum Cocktail – Bottle of Old New Orleans Cajun spiced rum

Last One Standing – If you close the doors on our party, you will get yourself a pick of one of Mud Puddle’s six new cocktail book releases.

First two newcomers who submit a drink – More books! Pick from Mud Puddle’s line-up.

We’ll also be giving out Annual Awards throughout the night (e.g. Person who consistently submits the worst drinks).

Festivities start at 7pm Eastern, Join Us!

Read cocktailnerd’s other iPhone Cocktail App Reviews:

Aug 27

iPhone Cocktail App Reviews: Pocket Cocktails

Cocktail Apps, Fight Night! 1 Comment »

As you’ve probably noticedby now, I’m taking a tour of the cocktail apps available in the iTunes App Store and evaluating which belong on your iPhone and which are total duds to be left in the dustbin to be ported to Android. If you haven’t read already, I am evaluating the applications in 5 areas:

Usability: Intuitive search functions? Screen go dark too quickly? Conversion options? This will tell you.
Quality and Depth: Does its Mai Tai call for Creme de Noyaux? Is it chock-full of 20 “Sex on the Beach” variations? If so, fail.
Features: Is it feature-rich with background information on drinks? Does it allow favorites and ratings to be stored/sorted. If so, it should fare well.
Likability: Subjective, but important. If the app is fun to use or gorgeously-designed or is simply a pleasure to use, it will gain high marks here.
Value: Charging me $1.99 for an advertisement-addled flaky piece of crap? Screw you, buddy! Giving me 2,000 recipes with quality photos and background information on the drinks from trusted sources for $3.99? Not bad! You get the idea.

All of these factors, at a weighting of my own choosing at that particular moment, will go into a final overall rating. Ultimately, I will round-up the “Best of the Best” that belong on anyone’s iPhone who is serious about cocktails and/or needs a handy reference behind the stick from time-to-time. Up now, Pocket Cocktails:

Pocket Cocktails
	Usability	Pocket Cocktails starts up quickly and presents you with a list of drink categories and then a nicely laid-out set of buttons allowing you to browse drinks, search, or find a random libation. The set of “categories” is a nice touch but when your “Martinis” section includes the Lemon Drop, the Espresso Martini (sic), and the Jolly Rancher and your “Classics” section includes the Sex on the Beach and the Hummer, you’re daring people to take issue with you and it makes the categories, for my purposes, nearly meaningless. However, the biggest usability issue is, unfortunately, a big one. Once you select a recipe from the nicely laid-out list, it takes you to the full-size image which then has a small menu bar labeled \|Picture\|Recipe\|Ingredients\|Email\| . Imagine you’re flipping through a cookbook and a tantalizing recipe for Pork Rillette catches your eye. “I’ll make this, right now!,” you think. Lo and behold, you look below the photo and the recipe starts like this: “1. Cut the pork into pieces, 2. Pour the water into a heavy cast-iron pot and bring to a boil. Add the lard and the cut-up meat. …” You would quickly ask yourself, “WHAT water? HOW MUCH pork?! LARD?! Curse you, tantalizing and obtuse non-sequitur of a recipe!!” And then, when it told you, “Refer to page 247 for the list and proportions of ingredients,” you would think it the strangest cookbook ever designed. And, it would be. The method for making a drink is separated from the ingredients in just this way in Pocket Cocktails. So, when it tells you, “Muddle the mint leaves in the simple syrup,” you have no context for how many mint leaves or how much simple syrup you’re being asked for. This means that you have to click back-and-forth between the “Ingredients” and the “Recipe” sub-menu unless you feel like writing one or the other down and just referring to one screen. And that’s if you can keep the screen from going dark on you. It’s a problem, and it makes this app unwieldy and unfriendly to use.
Price: $.99	Quality/Depth:	The recipes in Pocket Cocktails are very hit-and-miss with a slight edge to miss. While it’s certainly superior to iShot Machine, there are fundamental issues with a few of the “control” recipes I’ve set out to evaluate in these reviews. The Mai Tai, for example, lists pineapple juice and amaretto among its constituent parts, the Old Fashioned is of the “fruit cocktail + bourbon” persuasion, the Bronx goes disastrously heavy on the orange juice, and the Margarita calls for lime cordial and simple syrup. One or two of these malfeasant mishaps of mixology I could let slide, but butchering nearly all of them is simply careless. To be fair, the Mojito is well within tolerances. The depth of recipes is better than average and it has a good selection of classics and variations while not being overwhelming about it all.
	Features:	Pocket Cocktails has a good set of features though most of them show a flaw in one way or another. The randomizer has decent audio samples except for one dreadful female voice saying, “Shake it don’t break it!,” that alarms you into wanting to throw your ill-possessed phone the first time you hear it. There is a nice “Sommelier” section that covers wines and food pairings (though they do make an inexplicable appearance in the Random drink feature) and the management of categories, search tools, and drink lists and favorites is intuitive and easy-to-navigate. It’s not the most feature-rich cocktail app but of the features they’ve implemented they’ve done a good job.
Producer: Robert Maran	Likability/Value:	I like the retro feel of the application, the drink images are very well-done (though some of the drinks are ill-fitted to glassware in which they’re presented), and it performs solidly. Where it loses its value is in its ease of use for when you’re actually making a drink and in the quality and fidelity of some of the recipes. There are certainly enough elements here to warrant its $.99 price but there are other applications at the same price-point that will give you better drinks with better design and layout.
	Overall:	Rating: This app has some positive elements but is its own worst enemy. The usability issue involving the separation of the drinks’ methods and ingredients and the questionable quality of the majority of the recipes make it a non-starter from my viewpoint. Impractical for real-time use and not up-to-snuff as a reference tool, it is a model of mediocrity. The amount of time spent on the application’s design and content reassures me that this was a good faith effort to design a quality cocktail application, but it falls just short in enough ways to cause me to sigh and hope future updates resolve some of the usability and quality issues the application suffers. I’ll keep it on my phone, but it will likely sit untouched, unloved, and squawking occasionally, “Shake it don’t break it!,” into the sad dark.

Read cocktailnerd’s other iPhone Cocktail App Reviews:

Aug 25

iPhone Cocktail App Reviews: iShot Machine

Cocktail Apps, Fight Night! 3 Comments »

As you may have read in yesterday’s post, I’ll be ranging through the cocktail apps available on the iPhone and evaluating which belong in your suite of apps and which are total duds to be left in the dustbin to be ported to Android . As I mentioned, I will be evaluating the applications in 5 areas:

Usability: Intuitive search functions? Screen go dark too quickly? Conversion options? This will tell you.
Quality and Depth: Does its Mai Tai call for Creme de Noyaux? Is it chock-full of 20 “Sex on the Beach” variations? If so, fail.
Features: Is it feature-rich with background information on drinks? Does it allow favorites and ratings to be stored/sorted. If so, it should fare well.
Likability: Subjective, but important. If the app is fun to use or gorgeously-designed or is simply a pleasure to use, it will gain high marks here.
Value: Charging me $1.99 for an advertisement-addled flaky piece of crap? Screw you, buddy! Giving me 2,000 recipes with quality photos and background information on the drinks from trusted sources for $3.99? Not bad! You get the idea.

iShot Machine
	Usability	iShot Machine starts up with music that had me ready to jump barrels being thrown by an angry gorilla that had just kidnapped my girlfriend. It then plops you immediately into “Shake It!” mode where one, presumably, should shake the iPhone to be handed a drink recipe. Scatter-shot, but easy peasy. It keeps the screen lit while shaking through recipes and browsing the search features, a feature I greatly appreciate. It also has several search functions that are fairly intuitive. One major irritation I had from a usability stand-point is that over half the screen’s footprint is committed to the “slot machine” component and the area to scroll through the index or a recipe was too small. This also makes scrolling difficult and I found myself accidentally selecting a recipe without meaning to because the controls are so tight. The instructions for using the app are easy to follow and a welcome touch.
Price: $.99	Quality/Depth:	By any respectable drinking standard, this thing is a mess. There are 7 variations on the “Gorilla Fart” and searching for “fart” graces the user with no fewer than 20 ill-begotten concoctions. I have a feeling 101 Cocktails or Cocktails+ will threaten to disable themselves permanently if you try such a stunt with them. Sure, there are something on the order of 3000+ drinks in the database and I’m sure there are some quality beverages buried somewhere, but abandon all hope ye who is assigned to find them. As for traditional and classic drinks that outline as my “baseline” drinks for measuring the quality of recipes in these applications, you’re kidding me, right?
	Features:	There are some thoughtful and well-designed features in this application including the ability to filter by spirit, mixer, or style (flamed, salted, etc.) and to share and view shared ratings. It also allows you to manage the app’s behavior in welcome ways, one of them being the ability to silence the dreadful 4-bit audio samples. The “Send” feature accesses your contact list so emailing recipes is only a few keypresses away; very well thought-out.
Producer: Oasys Mobile	Likability/Value:	This is app is approachable, but not very pretty, sort of like all those girls you practiced asking out in High School because you knew the likelihood of being rejected was very low . If it included traditional cocktail recipes on top of the gablillion shots it includes and pared down the number of shots and/or needless variations it lists, it would be a much-improved program. This is definitely trying to be a lifestyle application to give people who want to get inebriated quickly an ill-minded chance to abdicate their decision-making responsibilities to an application. Woe is to the bartender facing a crowd of people holding iPhones and bleating, “Make me thithphbbt!,” especially when one can’t clearly see the recipe in the first place.
	Overall:	Rating: At $.99, you’re getting what you pay for: no pictures, no frills, a little fun, some well-designed features (filtering, emailing recipes, staying lit), and some not-so-well-designed features (layout, dominance of “slot machine” components when viewing a recipe the “recipes” and others). I can’t recommend this to the folks I presume to be my readers as you’re, hopefully, looking for a higher-quality drinking experience in your life and not looking to scrape the bottom of the bibulous barrel with the dreck the vast majority of these drinks represent. Look elsewhere, please.

Read cocktailnerd’s other iPhone Cocktail App Reviews:

101 Cocktails

Aug 20

iPhone Cocktail App Reviews: 101 Cocktails

Cocktail Apps, Fight Night! 6 Comments »

If you have an iPhone, and you’re on this site, you’ve probably thought about them; all those cocktail apps at your disposal. So have I. So much so, in fact, that I’ve found over 20 of them I’d like to sit and evaluate and share with you. From the dubious iShot Machine to the venerable Cocktails+ (from the folks who brought us cocktaildb.com), I’ll consider these alternately indispensable and dispensable gadgets of the iPhone-toting-cocktail-swilling class.

I will be evaluating the applications in 5 areas:

Usability: Does it have 20,000 recipes but no search or sorting tool? Does the screen go dark every 60 seconds and you find yourself having to reactivate the screen as you’re trying to layer your Pousse Café? Does it convert your drinks from ml to oz to kokus and back to ml? I’ll answer that question in this area.
Quality and Depth: Of those 20,000 recipes, are 8,000 of them variations on the Duck Fart, the Alien Secretion, and various nefarious and soul-shattering attempts to justify the use of Red Bull in a Drink? Are there only 25 drinks and the rest is nonsense involving a mess of social media “tools” and ways to find the nearest bar? Do the pictures look like they were taken with an iPhone by a drunken sailor in a galley at high seas? If so, fail. I will also be taking 5 “baseline” cocktails and evaluating the recipes against what are “acceptable” versions amongst the cocktail cognoscenti. They will be the Mai Tai, the Mojito, the Old Fashioned, the Margarita, and the Bronx. All should be included in any cocktail database and are fairly well-established in what should, and should not, be included in them and in what proportions.
Features: Does the app allow you to enter your own recipes? Does it provide background information on the drinks? Does it have additional content such as bartending and glassware information that is accurate? This will separate the cocktails from the cock-ups in the field.
Likability: A completely subjective look at how the application strikes me. If it’s garish and cluttered, booo hiss. If it’s elegant and fun to use to boot, then yaaay win! Also, I may take into consideration the producer of the tool. If the app is a Bacardi-marketing ploy, it’ll take some hits here.
Value: Charging me $1.99 for an advertisement-addled flaky piece of crap? Screw you, buddy! Giving me 2,000 recipes with quality photos and background information on the drinks from trusted sources for $3.99? Not bad! You get the idea.

All of these factors, at a weighting of my own choosing at that particular moment, will go into a final overall rating. The ultimate goal will be to take this morass of cocktailian bits and bytes and assemble “Cocktailnerd’s Recommended Cocktail Suite for the iPhone” since, naturally, the odds of there being “One App to Rule Them All and in Your Liver Bind Them” is nearly nil. There will be winners, there will be huge losers, just so long as you’re not one of them when you decide to spring for a cocktail application for your iPhone, eh? Let’s start with a collection of 3 very different cocktail apps: 101 Cocktails by the Mixographer, Jimmy Patrick, and will look at iShot Machine tomorrow, two very different applications.

101 Cocktails
	Usability	101 Cocktails is simple and elegant. It drops you into the app the first time with a picture of an Americano (not a bad start by any means) and only a few indications of what to do next. But once you figure out that you can display the recipe by turning the phone to landscape, which display the picture alongside the recipe, or can press the “I” (info) button to overlay the recipe for the drink on top of the photo, it becomes simple. There are several keypresses to get to a search function but with a catalog of drinks this exclusive it’s a rarely-used feature and you don’t miss quick access to a search too much. The primary purpose of the app, to find quality recipes for an exclusive set of drinks, is well met by its interface.
Price: $1.99	Quality/Depth:	As Jimmy Patrick says, “The question I have when looking at these kitchen sink recipe collections is always, ’Do I really need 14,000 cocktail recipes?’ My answer is always no. Working in a bar, as a professional bartender, you probably need 50 drink recipes on the fly.” And 101 Cocktails bears this philosophy out. It has, you guessed it, 101 recipes so it doesn’t get mondo points on “depth,” however, in the quality department it’s almost unsurpassed. Though I prefer more lime and orgeat in my Mai Tai, Jimmy goes so far as to chastise the reader for thoughts of grenadine, pineapple, or orange juice and the rest of the “baseline” recipes are pitch perfect.
	Features:	This is a lean application, but it gets points for not requiring an Internet connection or pestering me for my location. The “Send Recipe” feature, which allows you to email any recipe in only two keypresses, works very well and formats the email beautifully. The ability to rate and sort drinks by rating is a welcome one. There is also a nifty “Shake for Random Drink” feature that allows you to shake the iPhone and a random recipe will appear. Fun, even if I did find it accidentally due to the lack of instructions or “About” information in the application.
Producer: Jimmy Patrick	Likability/Value:	The photos are gorgeous, the ability to landscape and keep the image in view is a nice touch, and what it does, it does very well. Is it the warmest or cuddliest of applications? No, it’s relatively dry. But, as a budding cocktailian or someone who needs a quick reference to the most common classic cocktails in a guide you can rely on, this can’t be beat. The idea of sitting down with this and working through all 101 drinks over a few months is an exciting one and I highly recommend you try, especially at $1.99.
	Overall:	Rating: Solid, reliable, and trustworthy. It could stand to keep the screen lit when you’re viewing the recipe, have more operating instructions, and make it easier access to the search function (I cringe every time I have to tap the entry field to bring up the keyboard) but this is one that one can easily use as a quick reference from behind the bar or to peruse casually to find something that grabs your eye and, either way, not lead you astray.

Are you Bar Smart?

Spotlight On! 3 Comments »

bar_smart
At Tales of the Cocktail last month, an intriguing opportunity arose; would I like to attend the Beverage Alcohol Resource’s (B.A.R.) BarSmarts Advanced program in Los Angeles, San Francisco, or New York City this year? Why yes, thank you! I would! And so, having registered for the course, bought my tickets to New York City, and received my BarSmarts messenger bag with all of the knick-knacks and bar tools used in the course, I felt quite self-satisfied and began my studies. Soon after, I learned that B.A.R. would begin offering an online version of the course this month. So, no need for you to wait on an invite and book a flight and reserve a room 1000’s of miles away to enjoy the chance to increase your cocktailian knowledge and improve your bartending skills. You can do it from the comfort of your home in front of your screen…in your skivvies if you prefer. (though I do not recommend shaking drinks above your laptop, or your skivvies for that matter). For a $45 registration fee, here’s what you’ll get:

(click for a larger view)

Access to a 4-week curriculum designed for professional bartenders by the likes of Paul Pacult, Steve Olson, Dale DeGroff, and David Wondrich including video content featuring David Wondrich,
A BarSmarts branded messenger bag full of the necessary bar tools to study and complete the practical portions of the program,
Hands-on exercises to study and perfect the “The classic 25 drinks every bartender should know” and evaluation using the BarSmarts Wired’s online “Drink Builder” application, and
Certification by B.A.R. as “BarSmarts Wired Certified” allowing you to demonstrate your qualifications by adding “BSWC” to your title or on your resume.

Wondrich gives a lemon 'the business'

According to Pernod-Ricard, who sponsors the program:

BarSmarts WIRED targets bartenders across the country by offering them the opportunity to participate in BarSmarts through a web-based education and certification program offered exclusively through password-protected entrance to the BarSmarts WIRED site. Unlike BarSmarts Advanced, which launched in October 2008 and includes LIVE training from all six BAR, LLC partners, WIRED is not an invitation only program. It is available to any bartender who is interested in learning the craft, advancing his or her career and becoming certified in advanced education. The BarSmarts WIRED on line course went live online on August 1 and will run through September 30.

If you’re a bartender or cocktail enthusiast who is unable to gain an invite or attend BarSmarts Advanced Live, I highly recommend BarSmarts Wired as a way to freshen up and revisit skills through content presented by some of the best in the industry. Everything from the history of distillation to achieving service and efficiency as a bartender to managing inventory control is touched upon. And, while not a Master’s class in bartending or bar operations, the course provides valuable insights into the bartending profession and I can recommend it to relatively new bartenders looking to learn more about the industry they’ve entered and increase their value to their business or to enthusiasts who have considered joining the ranks of those behind-the-stick and would like to get a glimpse of how the profession might suit them.

Hell, the bartending kit alone is worth the price of admission, so go for it . And, you get to play with this; what more could you ask?

What? *MINT* in a mojito you say?!

For a full-on marketing blast of a preview of the program you can view the Flash Demo.

Aug 05

Wondrich Invents the Colbert Bump-Colbert Wants Dave’s Digits

Absurd, but funny 3 Comments »

The Colbert Report

Mon – Thurs 11:30pm / 10:30c

Colbert Bump Cocktail – David Wondrich

www.colbertnation.com

Colbert Report Full Episodes

Political Humor

Tasers

Last night, the “Historical Oracle,” David Wondrich visited Stephen Colbert on The Colbert Report and performed his typical rat-a-tat-a-tat shaking style, discussed Prohibition-era cocktails, how to strain drinks through one’s beard, and how to get Stephen Colbert to sex you up all night. The key, Cherry Heering.

Wondrich appeared, in part, to promote his book Imbibe!: From Absinthe Cocktail to Whiskey Smash which you should buy, post-haste.