REVIEW: Mobile Webtender brings out the virtual bartender

Editor’s Note: Welcome to Yay or Nay, a feature for RCR Wireless News’ weekly e-mail service, Mobile Content and Culture. Every week we’ll review a new wireless application or service from the user’s point of view, with the goal of highlighting what works and what doesn’t in the mobile content industry. If you wish to submit your application or service for review, please contact us at rcrwebhelp@crain.com.
Application: The Mobile Webtender
Running on: Motorola Inc. Q Global on AT&T Mobility
Yay: We like mobile content and love alcohol, so the idea of looking up a random drink recipe on our cellphones sure has a certain allure to it.
Nay: Cocktail recipes just aren’t fun to look at, no matter what size the screen. But the idea of being the cool guy at the bar who orders a cocktail no one has ever heard of is pretty enticing. The bartender doesn’t know the mix for what ails you? Heck, you’ve got the recipe right there on your trusty cellphone. You might come off like a poseur, but it could be worth it in the end. Alcohol and short-lived memories go hand-in-hand.
We say: Donate that Mr. Boston Official Bartender and Party Guide to someone who needs. With cocktail recipes available on your mobile phone, you should never run out of ideas for your next order.
Review: Bartenders — the good ones at least — have to memorize hundreds of drink recipes. Frankly, this is what separates them from the rest of us — that, the ability to count and the wherewithal to ignore annoying drunks for hours on end. It doesn’t take a degree (or a high school diploma, for that matter) to make a cocktail. But it does require memorization.
The Mobile Webtender (and its PC-based counterpart, Webtender) puts bartending in reach of the rest of us. The WAP site is a stripped-down version of the feature-rich online version, but the end result is still the same. With thousands of recipes on hand, there’s nothing keeping the bartender in all of us from becoming a virtual reality.
After clicking “continue” on the warning about the legal drinking age and the site’s use of explicit language, Mobile Webtender provided an extremely simple list of links: random drink, search drinks, top 10 drinks and about.
Most liquor aficionados are much too picky to go for something like a random drink, but there’s an exhibitionist at every party. Our random drink recipe was Vaina, which calls for sherry, chocolate liquor, cognac, powdered sugar and egg yolk. Sounds disgusting, but who are we to judge?
Each of the text-only recipes included the ingredients, measurements, instructions and what glass to pour it in. It would be cool if there was an image of each cocktail on the WAP site, but like all things in life, nothing comes close to the real thing. So why bother? Stick to the basics and let the drink take care of all the magic.
We also searched for Zombie, which is just about the coolest drink we’ve ever heard of. And it’s mostly because of who drank it rather than what’s in it. Lore has it that The Doors frontman Jim Morrison drank a triple one of these every morning. Generally the drink calls for light rum, dark rum, pineapple juice and 151 with slight ingredient variations thereafter. That would mean Morrison drank upwards of 10 shots of alcohol with each rising sun. If that doesn’t earn you a medal for bravery, we don’t know what does.
Sure enough, Mobile Webtender returned eight hits on that search query, each with a slight difference in ingredients.
The top 10 drinks were quite a hilarious read too. We’d list all of the drink names here, but it might be too much for the faint-of-heart. Some of them you’d expect to find, while others were entirely outside the well, if you will.
Overall, the Mobile Webtender makes things easy. The search mechanism is deep while the top 10 list and random-recipe generator add the perfect compliment for the more adventurous drinkers out there.
So go on, throw caution to the wind, buy up all the bottles of liquor and mixers you can find and bring the party. Just don’t forget to keep your cellphone on hand.