As the weekly "Brewsletter" weren't enough, World of Beer has a free application for mobile devices so you can kill those last few hours on the clock before heading to happy hour.
The app is not completely pointless. After all, it's hard to keep track of over 500 different styles of bottled beer and 50 taps at the Dadeland location. That's what this app is for.
Do you absolutely need to know if WOB carries a certain beer? The beer digest automatically list all beers carried at a WOB station near you. Beers are alphabetized and signified by their country flag of origin on the left-hand margin, and further denoted with a color indicating a light beer, a dark beer, or anywhere in between.
Tap on a beer and its specifications are listed: color, origin, style, ABV, serving size and a brief description. The entire list is sortable according to draft or bottle.
The list is long but you can use the filters at the bottom of the screen to sort results according to ABV, color, loyalty status, country or style. Helpful if you want to know if WOB carries any beer from Vietnam (they do, Thirty-Three Export).
Next on the list is loyalty status, which tracks points accumulated, beer purchases and tells you how many more points until you reach the next milestone. Want to know more about the loyalty program? It costs $15 and you get any two beers from the tap, a free WOB koozkie, a sense of purpose and plastic card with a 14-digit membership number.
For each beer purchased at WOB using a loyalty card, points are earned. Mucho points equals grande beer party.
One of the more useful features of this app is that in the lower right-hand corner of the home screen is an icon that allows you to leave feedback for a WOB store. When you tap it, a list of locations is displayed, and selection your location opens up a portal allowing you to send an email to corporate regarding that specific location.
Probably the most useful feature is the feature that keeps track of events a month and a half in advance at your local WOB, including specials, happy hours and details on live music for the weekend.
Sorting through a huge wishlist of beer is neat, but one major criticism of this app is that price is not displayed with each beer. This is important. Imagine that nine-to-fiver whose hopes are dashed upon finding out that the beer he was dead-set on ordering costs more than what he has in his wallet.
The app is available for devices running iOS or Android 2.3 to 4.0.3--with 4.1 Jelly Bean support coming next week.
There is no doubt that the app is a good idea. But we're guessing after you've parsed through the list and decided on what to drink that, you'll still flip through the menu when you get there.
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