BeerCloud for iPhone Means Good Beer is Never Far from Your Pocket

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There’s a virtually limitless world of iPhone apps out there today, ranging from the extremely useful to the outlandishly inane.

The world’s greatest beverage hasn’t escaped the iPhone’s pull, either. While some of the gadget’s beery apps are worthless for anything but a laugh and even downright demeaning—come on, I don’t want to pretend I’m drinking a beer!—others are decidedly more useful. One such example is GreatBrewers.com’s BeerCloud.

Great Brewers describes BeerCloud for the iPhone thusly:

“BeerCloud is a revolutionary mobile app that helps you pair beer with food, track down your favorite beers in your neighborhood, discover the world of beer styles, and pull up a full description of nearly any beer in seconds. Whether you’re a beer consumer who could use some guidance in making a well-educated purchase, a food lover looking to discover new ways to enhance a meal with a complementary beer pairing, or a traveling beer enthusiast who wants to instantly map the closest stores, bars, and restaurants carrying your favorite beers, BeerCloud is an essential iPhone app.”

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Pop Up Bottle Opener

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Merging a great love for imported beers and a delight in confounding friends, the Pop Up Bottle Opener is a surefire way to throw one more wacky looking gadget into your kitchen that’ll impress your guests. Designed by Giovanni Alessi Anghini, the opener seems like nothing more than a stainless steel egg sitting on your countertop til you plunk it atop your capped bottle and press down — the interior workings transform that pressure to mechanically lift the cap from the bottle and hold it tight with a magnet, thus magically lifting free of the bottle with the cap seemingly disappeared. We’re a sucker for fantastically functioning design, and this doesn’t fail to disappoint. Available for pre-order at Unica for $47.

Liquor Lock for Your Best Booze

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liquor-lock.jpg‘Tis the season to keep your best single malt on lockdown! Ever notice after a night of having friends over that your best liquor bottles suddenly have only a couple of jiggers left, even after reminding your sloshed guests that the party favors were restricted to the bottles left out in the open? Because there’s always that joker that’s going to take the time to dig deep into the dark corners of your bar cabinet no matter how well you think you’ve hidden your best booze, the Liquor Lock is ready to puzzle — and stop — your misbehaving friends. The concept is pretty simple: replacing the standard cork or screw top, the lock fits atop your bottle with a 3 digit combination lock. To set in place, just enter the combination and turn the top clockwise, effectively expanding the rubber stopper inside and locking the top on tight. With the right code, opening is a reverse of this two-step and releases the pressure of the rubber with a counter-clockwise turn. At $14.95 each from Sporty’s Men’s Collection (or $13.50 each for 3 or more) it may not be the best solution to secure all of the bottles in your liquor cabinet, but it’s a great start for the special bottles in your collection.

The Winerack

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winerack.jpgFrom the same masterminds that fashioned The Beer Belly, comes The Winerack, a new female version of the ever popular stealthy beverage holder. Now the girls can turn an A cup into a double D all while sneaking a bottle of wine, a mixed drink or even a fifth of their favorite hard stuff to the movies, concerts, or sports event.

The creators at Underdevelopment say “We get it that some chicks just don’t want that pregnant look that comes with The Beerbelly.” Man, those guys have their fingers on the pulse of women! For $29.95 what could possibly make a better gift this holiday season?

Gravity Magnetic Shot Glasses with Tray

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It’s a clever rainbow of inebriation, at your fingertips and stuck in place, sidestepping the awful tipsy-gaffe of toppled drinkwear and embarrassed revelers (and who isn’t tired of sweeping up broken glasses after a rowdy holiday night). The folks over at HomeWetBar.com have picked up the Gravity Magnetic Shot Glasses made of colorful plastic and stainless steel bases that serve to magnetically affix the glass to its stainless steel serving tray (7.5″ square) — turn it any which way, even half-stumble over your ottoman, and this puppies will stay put til the drink is forcibly snatched away. For $24.95, it’s a decent deal if you’re through with trying to serve up your Rumple Minze by the fistful. But don’t let the picture fool you, your booze will not stay in place if the tray’s upside down — gravity is always in play.

Beer Pong Rack

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beer-pong-rack.jpgIt’s been a couple of years since my beer pong playing college days but I have not yet forgotten. If you have never had the pleasure, it is an experience and one that can become maddening if people are too dumb or drunk to play by the rules.

What are the two biggest problems with beer pong? Bad racks and spillage! There is nothing worse than someone who lacks the ability to tightly re-rack and pattern a set of cups. Except maybe a couple of sissies who fail to put enough alcohol in their cups to keep them glued to the table, causing cups to topple and precious booze to be wasted.

Check out the beer pong rack from The Founding Collegians and you’ll never again have to worry about opponents so drunk from a night full of beatings that they can’t figure out how to construct a basic geometric shape or girls wasting your entire roll of paper towels just to clean up their fallen soldiers.

Asahi Beerbot – Beer-Pouring Robot

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Suddenly we’re one step closer to Jetson-era pneumatic transportation tubes and automated dressing machines. The Asahi Beerbot Robocco is angling to become your new best friend (when they’re back in stock, of course — the sudden product availability had enthusiasts far and wide flooding the site this week, so the company is currently scrambling to build more units). Your mom was right, though: anything great is worth waiting for.

The Beerbot is prepared to follow your full drinking cycle, from cooling cans, opening the flip top, and pouring perfectly into chilled glass mugs. But wait, there’s more! The R2-D2-esque bot stores and refrigerates up to six cans, comes with programmable voice controls, a child lock, 2 custom glass mugs, 6 foam cup bases, a plastic floor protector, and even has a self cleaning mode. It’s designed to work with Japanese sized cans (350ml), but has been tested with American-sized beer bullets (355ml) and worked just fine. No guarantee on other cans though, and no word yet on a glass bottle friendly version (fingers crossed).

When the Beerbot comes back in stock, be prepared to lay down a cool $800. Check out the official website for a video of the bot in action.

Don’t Break The Bottle!

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The kid in me loves this; the wine lover is worried. Both sides are delighted, though, to have found this little gem — who doesn’t love messing with friends?

Don’t Break the Bottle is a wooden wine puzzle bent on frustrating porch sippers and dinner guests this summer. In fact, at $20 per puzzle, you could probably stand to stock up and start wrapping your “thanks for inviting me” gift bottles in this noodle scratcher. Before enjoying that lovely cabernet-merlot blend from Australia, hopeful lushes must first extract the bottle from the wooden maze cage (I’m not going to give away the secret, but it involves balls, ropes, blocks and pulleys).

For extra fun, wait ’til your friends are a few sheets in, and then hide the instructions.

Make Your Own Booze Luge

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booze lugeIf you have spent any time in and around clubs, college parties, or spring break festivities you have probably seen a booze luge or two (I am not a big drinker and let me tell you we’ve met). After seeing this icy work of art you probably thought to yourself, it sure would be sweet if I could have one of those laying in wait for my next gala event. With the new Lush Life Party Ice Luge you can have just that for only twenty bucks.

All you need is 24 hours notice to freeze your booze luge into a solid block that is ready to go. After that all you need to do is slip out the block of ice and place it on the mold which doubles as a wedge like stand. Sure it’s a smaller version at only 17×14 inches but, I don’t think you are going to fit anything much bigger in your freezer anyway.

Binocular Flask, For Those Cold Games

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binocular flaskBack to back alcohol hiding gadgets, what more could you ask for? Now you can hide your favorite stiff drink right inside these realistic looking binoculars. I am willing to bet that this little drinking gadget will get you passed those stiff gateway workers at any sporting event. These look a like binoculars come with a strap, funnel, and the ability to hold 16oz of alcoholic goodness. For under 20 bucks you can keep yourself warm at any event.