That app will hunt

If necessity is truly the mother of invention, then Jeff and Melani Gordon may have tragic drinking problems. Their crippling need for oddly specific craft brews, combined with a mutual distaste for combing through stale tap lists online, inspired the creation of the first Taphunter app. A mere two years later, social media and smart-phone-fiddling drunkards have propelled Taphunter’s presence into seven different major cities.

Taphunter’s mobile-optimized website (taphunter.com) and iPhone app provide invaluable assistance to beer connoisseurs on the go. Do you want to use geolocation to find the nearest restaurant serving beers from a list of your favorites? Taphunter can do that. Perhaps you wish to save fellow admirers of Pliny the Elder the pain of discovering the local haunt’s keg is tapped. Taphunter will help deliver that bad news to others in a calm, reassuring voice. Maybe you’re seeking a massage parlor with discrete red-light services? There it totally fails, but two out of three is still respectable.

Taphunter’s functionality relies heavily on an engaged user base flagging and tagging beers between sips. The craft-brew community’s mantra of “It takes a village to raise a beer snob” has perpetuated taphunting efforts, but don’t fret if you’re not burdened with altruism.

Updates to the Taphunter database earn users points for display on their website’s leader board and possibly the occasional prize, as well.

Taphunter’s latest triumph is the launch of its new Android app. I found it to be intuitive and capable. I rather enjoyed playing with it on the Taphunter demo phone, but not nearly as much as I relished smashing it to the ground. Jeff and Mel didn’t appreciate it, but I’ve seen enough Terminator movies to know what happens when these machines get too smart.

Those of you with intact Android smart phones can search for Taphunter in the Android app market to download it to your device.