How To: Find the Perfect Beer with the BrewGene iPhone App

There are two kinds of beer drinkers—those who just want to drink and those who want to enjoy it. The former usually sticks to the same kind of beer, drinking it habitually, while the latter is always on the lookout for new varieties. They like savoring the taste of a freshly poured dark lager and the roasted aroma of a hearty stout and are always looking for that "Holy Grail" of beer—the perfect combination of hops, malt and yeast. Thankfully, there's a mobile application that gets you once step closer to reaching that goal.

It's called BrewGene and works just like the technology used to provide you with new music recommendations based on your user preferences. Whenever you try a new beer, simply rate how much you enjoyed it and BrewGene compares your rating to all of the others in their database, providing you with instant recommendations for your next pale ale or must-have wheat beer. You'll be able to find beers that match your liking, rather than taking a chance on some mystery beer that could be hit or miss.

Right now it's only available as an iPhone app, but the rest of you can still take advantage of the beer recommendation system via the BrewGene website. They house an extensive database of beers with more than 40,000 varieties from over 4,000 breweries, and their site is updated on a daily basis. Also, BrewGene posts a "Beer of the Day" and maintains a "Top 100" list for the beers in their database. For an (odd) explanation of BrewGene, check out their video below.

"BrewGene is based on the observation that while there is technology to recommend good music based on user preferences, there is not really anything that helps you find good beer," said John Muggeridge. "With the vast selection of beer available today, (some of which are quite expensive), we strongly feel that BrewGene will be a useful tool to help our users identify new beers that they will enjoy."