Appy Hour: Navigate London’s Best Bars With Drink Advisor

By Sponsor Last edited 116 months ago
Appy Hour: Navigate London’s Best Bars With Drink Advisor

This is a sponsored article on behalf of Drink Advisor.

Drink Advisor in action

The phrase ‘so many bars, so little time’ can easily come to mind during a night on the town in London.

There’s a lot of sultry speakeasies, glamorous hotel lobbies and breathtaking rooftops to make the most of. And just as important as getting to as many great drinking spots as possible is not wasting your time and money in the dud ones. That’s where Drink Advisor comes in. It’s a new all-inclusive app dedicated solely to making your drinking experiences better - we decided to try it out.

Let’s say you meet in a pub after work and fancy heading somewhere new. Tap onto the app’s bar section to be presented with a seemingly endless list of bars, ordered either by rating or by how close you are to them. The latter is a particularly handy tool, and we’ve found that if you’re anywhere near the centre of town you’ll generally be spoilt for choice within a ten minute walk.

Spoilt for choice

Get out your most discerning finger and scroll through the options, judging each on proximity, user ratings and whether or not it's actually open (especially useful if it’s getting late) without having to click further. When you find one you like, view its full profile to see reviews and photos before you commit. Think of it as a boozy version of Tinder or Grindr, if you like.

Something dating apps haven’t done yet is show your potential matches on a live map. We’re pretty sure that wouldn’t be a good idea, but the map display of bars here is pretty handy. Not just for finding somewhere new, but also for locating that super-trendy but superbly hidden speakeasy. You know, the one in the old public toilet or that one through the fridge door.

One of the places Drink Advisor took us was to The Mayor of Scaredy Cat Town, where you can access a hidden bar through a fridge door

Drink Advisor’s work doesn’t stop once you’re inside. We’ve all experienced that moment of cocktail list embarrassment when our (often alcohol-addled) mind fails to recall just what that classic cocktail consists of. Instead of playing drinks roulette, just click onto the cocktail section of the app for a list of around 50 of the most common drink styles, each complete with a photo and an ingredients list as well as some handy trivia to impress your pals with. It tells you how to make it too, just in case you want to recreate it at home.

Learn how to make your favourite tipple

If you like what you get in the bar, use the app to save it for next time so that it’s easy to make a return. By doing so, you’ll also be able to access its opening hours, reviews, photos and more even in the darkest corners of the most tucked-away basement bars thanks to a useful offline mode.

Also, don’t forget to rate the bar, upload photos and leave comments to help London’s future drink seekers. And if you’re bar-lingual enough to know about some hot new opening before Drink Advisor does, then you can add it.

Drink Advisor on iPad

Other features of the app include facts on different types of spirits and common brands, expert reviews on the best places to try (both in London and around the world — there's information on around 7000 bars in over 200 cities), a check-in feature, and the chance to connect with friends via Facebook, Twitter and your phone contacts.

Get your mates using Drink Advisor, and you can even organise bar events and meetups without leaving the app. Oh, and it’s only fair that they buy you a drink for the tip-off.

Drink Advisor is available free for iPhone/iPad and Android devices through the  App Store or Google Play.

Last Updated 11 July 2014