This App Tells You What Kind of Whiskey You Should Buy, Because Lord Knows You Have No Idea
At some point, you will probably have to know more about whiskey than “it’s that liquid I mixed with coke in college.” The new iPhone app Distiller achieves just that, by tailoring whiskey recommendations based on your knowledge of the liquor and preferences for taste—all through a quick automated survey. Answer a few questions about price and taste preferences, and Distiller spits out a recommendation.
It’s like having one of those snooty liquor connoisseurs on call, in your pocket. Except no annoying mustache.
Released Thursday by a website of the same name, Distiller asks you through a series of questions about what you’re looking for—your location, mood, price range—and then populates a list of bottles you might like based on your answers.
They call it a “journey.” I call it a classy way to get drunk. Everybody wins.
Here’s a quick intro to the app.
1. Download it here.
2. Open it.
3.Tap Get a recommendation.
4. This will bring you to the survey Distiller uses to prescribe you the perfect alcoholic beverage for your situation. Below is the first question. I’ve decided to try something new, because carpe diem! Or something.
5. One of the only things I know about whiskey is that I like it. I’d say that qualifies me as a dabbler?
6. Now I get to choose my style of whiskey. Hmm, Scotch. I’ve heard important people enthusiastically speak about that type of whisky. Let’s go with Scotch.
7. Next up, you must reveal where you’ll be drinking this Scotch. I am going to say a party, because admitting to myself that I’ll drink it on my couch is depressing.
8. The app will then gauge your sense of adventure. I’m all in, because, remember? Carpe whatever!
9. Finally, the hardest question of all. How much can you spend on this complete luxury of an item. In other words, are you poor? For the sake of variety, I have selected the $25-50 range. But just so you know, I originally picked less than $25 and it immediately suggested Bushmills. In other words, this app probably won’t actually introduce you to cool new whiskeys if you don’t have enough money to splurge on fancy refreshments in the first place.
10. Finally, I’m given a handful of suggestions. Each recommendation shows you what the label looks like, where it’s from and a few taste notes. Tap view details if you want to know more, or Next if you want to keep looking.
11. When you tap view details, you’ll have all the important information about the whisky at your fingertips, including a graph of its flavor profile. If you create an account with Distiller, you’ll also be able to rate the whisky out of five stars for future reference.
Now let’s all toast to our newfound knowledge of whiskey! If this app did its job right, you won’t even remember using it tomorrow morning.
