When it comes to technology, I guess you could say your Imbiber’s bluetooth hasn’t grown in yet. Sure, everyone else is going WiFi, but I figure “Why try?” I still write with pen and paper, pay my bills with checks and send ‘em via regular mail. Hell, even the stamps I use are the kind you lick rather than those new-fangled self-adhesive numbers — though that has more to do with the fact that stamp glue gets me higher than a hooker’s hemline than to any philosophical aversion to change.
I do own an iPod, however, and recently came across software called iBar that can turn everyone’s favorite portable listening device into a virtual bartending encyclopedia. iBar is available for download on the Internet ($29.95 at www.talkingpanda.com) and contains more than 1,100 drink recipes that are sorted alphabetically and can be accessed just as easily as scrolling through a song list. Cool little extras include “Studying 4 the Bar,” where you can listen to a tutorial on the history of spirits, peruse a comprehensive list of mixology terminology, or learn the difference between a Julep and a Hawthorne strainer. Click on “Toasts” to hear how to cheer in a variety of languages from Portugese (“Saúde!”) to German (“Prosit!”). The “Special Techniques” category offers useful information such as the proper way to make lemon twists and a guide to becoming a master muddler.
The wisdom iBar imparts occasionally is a bit obvious — “running out of ice is simply a killer” … duh! — but all in all this software is the most useful bartending tool I’ve come across. Having the 411 on every drink recipe in the book in a compact iPod as opposed to, well, a book, means never being at a loss should the call suddenly go out for a round of Hairy Armpits (Ouzo and grapefruit juice over ice) or an Eroticolada (Midori, Coconut rum and pina colada mix).
Until next week, this is … uh, wait, who am I? Whoa, I gotta lay off the stamps! (E-mail questions, comments or suggestions for the Imbiber to)
Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on July 15, 2005. Read the original PDF.