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
flipndrink 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 more on the Flip ‘N Drink app:

Read cocktailnerd’s other iPhone Cocktail App Reviews:

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