thrillist

The digital age has moved a great many once-human interactions online, from depositing checks, to conducting business meetings, to constructing elaborate cat masks out of papier-mâché in order to commune with like-minded Nekos. Add buying peeps drinks to that list, thanks to Bartab.

Launching now in SF, Bartab's a free Facebook app (and soon to launch accompanying iApp) that lets you bestow drinks upon friends for a dollar, which they can redeem at participating watering holes for...another dollar, i.e., $2 drinks for everyone...except for Trevor Hubbard, who claims to be too cool for Facebook, despite claiming to everyone that he's too cool for Facebook. Pick your lucky recipient(s) and you'll be taken to a drink selection screen that's got a bunch o' neighborhood check boxes, which when you click 'em shows you who's serving what where, e.g., Tres Agaves is rockin' house Margs, while 15 Romolo's pourin' Sazeracs, and Azul's offerin' up something called the "Purple Hooter", so tape your nipples. Once you've picked your poisons, the drinks'll be displayed on your friends' walls along with a personal message (optional); from there, recipients receive a coupon to show the bartender (stating number/type of drinks and location) on their phone via Facebook or text, which hopefully doesn't read "u got b33r 4 m3 or wut lol".

Hitting iTunes any day, the iPhone app'll let you do all this on the go. Before you get too jazzed up, know that the bars impose a $2 drink per hour, per person max -- perhaps a blessing in disguise, 'cause people can get rowdy, and those whiskers are delicate.

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Give the gift of drunk at Bartab.Webtab.com