Tuesday, December 06, 2011

First Month of Untappd

I started using the social media drinking site "Untappd" about a month ago. I've been aware of Untappd for awhile, but never realized that they allowed people to enter their own home-brews to the database. Since most of what I drink is home-brew, it didn't seem like something I would be real interested in.

It does turn out to be an interesting way to track the beers that you drink. If you are a craft beer fan (beer geek), it is somewhat worthwhile to track your beer consumption. It helps remind you what you drank and how you liked it.

So, I've been using Untappd for a month and have already earned 15 badges.


Newbie: I earned the Newbie badge for recording my first beer on Untappd. It was SheppyBrew's Stouticus American Stout, and it was fantastic.






Apprentice: After 25 unique beers, I earned the Apprentice badge. My 25th beer was Longshot Blackened Hops by Boston Beer Company.






Power Month: I got this for drinking 30 beers during a month. My 30th beer just happened to be SheppyBrew's Free the Glutens! APA.






Home Brewer: I got the Home Brewer badge for adding 10 beers to the Untappd database. Most of the beers I've added are SheppyBrew beers. It does not have to be a home-brewed beer to count towards this badge.





Six Pack. I recorded drinking 6 of the same type of beer (SheppyBrew Rocktoberfest Lager) 6 times in a row within a week.






Taste Crazy: I had 5 different types of beers in one day to get this badge. SheppyBrew's Wetta Blonde Ale was the 5th of the day.






Toast King: I "toasted" 15 different beer check-ins of my Untappd friends.







Drinking your Paycheck: I got this badge for having 5 beers on a Friday. The 5th one was SheppyBrew's Phychotically Dark and Bitter IDA.






New Brew Thursday: I got this badge for drinking at least one new beer on 3 Thursdays during the month. My third Thursday new beer was Sublimely Self-Righteous Ale by Stone Brewing Company.





I Believe in IPA!: To get this badge, all I had to do was drink 3 different IPAs in a 30 day period. My third IPA was USS Enterprise IPA by Dry Dock Brewing Co.






Brewery Loyalist: I got this badge for drinking 10 beers from the same brewery (SheppyBrew nano-brewery) during a 30 day period. The 10th beer just happened to be my world-famous Phat & Tyred Amber Ale.





Playing the Field: I got Playing the Field by having 10 different beers in a row. Ironically, I got it on the same Phat & Tyred Amber Ale that got me the Brewery Loyalist badge.


Your Wish Came True: I had 10 beers from my "Wish List" during a 60 day period to get this badge. My 10th beer from my wish list was SheppyBrew's Buckwheat's Belgium Pale Ale.





Stout Day 2011: I drank a Stout on International #StoutDay . The beer that officially got me the badge was Two Tasks American Stout by Dry Dock Brewing Co, but I also had my SheppyBrew Stouticus and Tweedle Beetle Imperial Stout later on #StoutDay.




Beer-giving (2011): All I had to do was drink a beer on Thanksgiving. Sadly, the beer that got me the badge was Summer Shandy by Jacob Leinenkugel Brewing Company. This was one of the worst beers I've had in quite awhile.




Most of these badges are low-hanging fruit. It will be impossible to ever earn this many badges in such a sort amount of time again. I do have my eyes on a couple more badges for December, though.

I realize that lots of you would consider untappd.com a waste of time, but I find it sort of fun. If you like to try different craft beers ... especially if you have a smart-phone with which to check-in, go sign up and give it a try. Make sure you become my friend: http://untappd.com/user/esheppy.

2 comments:

  1. I too recently joined up on Untappd just to see what it was all about. I typically forget to post my brews I'm drinking so I don't have many badges yet. While I believe this is a cool idea and popular with the social media crowd, I also feel that this site encourages over indulging at times in order to earn badges. In some cases I'm seeing some people posting over 12 beers a day. While this is the site should also try to discourage over posting just to keep things "responsible". Perhaps if you post more than 6 beers in a single day you should earn a "I Drink Too Much" badge or perhaps prevent you from posting more for the rest of the day.

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  2. Well, I agree that it can promote over-indulgence. I admit, in fact, that one day I was specifically targeting "Taste Crazy", which meant I had 5 beers in one day (although I did pick lower ABV beers to do it).

    When I see someone do lots of beers in one day, I usually assume they are from sampler platters. The "check-ins" don't ask how much beer you had, so it could literally be a GABF-style one oz pour.

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