Nine Bar-Mapping Sites: Happy Hours, Ratings, and Beer

Yesterday’s Digg of our post on Unthirsty.com generated not just choice comments like “Dethrone ur own span blog spamer,” but also a considerable number of alternative sites with the same idea: combining Google Maps with bar locations to plot Happy Hours, good deals, and—well—bars.

Here, to your edification and satisfaction, are some of the other maps and boozing mashups available to you online. If we by chance missed any major players, please let us know in the comments.

• Name: Mappy Hour
• Locations: Worldwide (or so it appears)
• User Submissions: Yes
• Mobile Version: No
• GMaps Integration: Yes
• Specials/Sorting: There is a text field into which specials information can be input, but there is not a way to sort by specific specials.
• User Ratings: Yes

• URL: Mappyhour.com

Even more options after the jump.

• Name: Unthirsty
• Locations: Portland, Oregon; Seattle, Washington; New York, New York
• User Submissions: Yes
• Mobile Version: Yes
• GMaps Integration: Yes
• Specials/Sorting: Food, Drink (Happy Hours), Patio/Outdoor Seating, Wi-Fi
• User Ratings: Yes

• URL: Unthirsty

• Name: Beer Hunter
• Locations: Ontario
• User Submissions: Yes, via email
• Mobile Version: No
• GMaps Integration: Yes
• Specials/Sorting: Sorts by LCBOs, major chain stores, and independent micro-breweries and retail stores.
• User Ratings: No

• URL: Beerhunter.ca

• Name: Cheaper Drinker
• Locations: Minneapolis, Duluth
• User Submissions: Yes
• Mobile Version: No
• GMaps Integration: Yes
• Specials/Sorting: Drink and food specials, sorted by day.
• User Ratings: No

• URL: CheaperDrinker.com

• Name: Drink Guru
• Locations: Boston, New York, Seattle, DC (Chicago, Houston, LA, and San Francisco coming soon)
• User Submissions: Yes (It’s a wiki.)
• Mobile Version: No (But it’s mostly text.)
• GMaps Integration: No
• Specials/Sorting: Sorting by neighborhood is a nice touch.
• User Ratings: Yes

• URL: DrinkGuru.com

• Name: Boston Beer Map
• Locations: Boston
• User Submissions: Yes (via email)
• Mobile Version: No
• GMaps Integration: Yes
• Specials/Sorting: Not much in the way of special information, but there is a pubcrawl mapping tool.
• User Ratings: No

• URL: BostonBarMap.com

• Name: Drink Deal
• Locations: New York City
• User Submissions: Yes
• Mobile Version: No
• GMaps Integration: Yes
• Specials/Sorting: Excellent filters built into their GMaps tool, with filters for neighborhood (mostly Manhattan, though), beer, wine, liquor, food, entertainment, and Happy Hours, as well as subtypes like “micro-brews” and “All-U-Can-Drink.”
• User Ratings: Yes

• URL: DrinkDeal.com

Editor’s Note: DrinkDeal.com has a ton of great information, but really needs to overhaul their site design and user interface. It’s pretty fugly. Oh, and add Brooklyn and Queens neighborhoods while you’re at it.

• Name: Where 2 Match
• Locations: Seattle
• User Submissions: Yes
• Mobile Version: Yes (SMS or email)
• GMaps Integration: Yes
• Specials/Sorting: A tag-based system allows pretty much any type of meta-data sorting available, including events, deals, and more nebulous selections like “nice” and “not gay.” Not just bars, either, but coffee shops and restaurants. A Dodgeball-like friends system is there, too.
• User Ratings: Yes

• URL: Where2Match.com

• Name: Beerfly
• Locations: Worldwide (Heavy on the US)
• User Submissions: Yes
• Mobile Version: No (Mostly text.)
• GMaps Integration: Yes (Basic address finding only.)
• Specials/Sorting: Sort by bar, brewpub, homebrew shop, etc., as well as extensive ranking system.
• User Ratings: Yes. (Lord yes. Tons of user-submitted reviews, as well.)

• URL: BeerAdvocate.com/beerfly

Editor’s Note: Beerfly, with its knowledgeable user base, would probably be the ultimate bar-finding tool for beer snobs, if only they’d incorporate some of the time-specific deals and specials features of sites like DrinkDeal.com.