BeerCloud

Historically, drinking gadgets have always started with a trip to Home Depot, and ended with a trip to Home Depot, where you now work, because no one wants a financial adviser with a 40ft beer bong. For a more advanced and refined drinking tool, check out BeerCloud.Lovingly populated by the big-time beer importers behind GreatBrewers.com (who recently acquired the largest such operation in the VA/Baltimore area), Cloud's an Android-/iPhone-driven almanac of all things foamy, giving you background and track-down info on the nearly 3,000 beers under their umbrella, which as far as keeping you dry goes, has got to be the worst umbrella ever. To get educated, just enter a beer to pull up its taste profile, pic, and details on strength, color, and bitterness; or search by brewery (400+ selections) to get a particular maker's origins, ensuring you'll have something to talk about besides the terrible things its products have made you do to mailboxes and for-sale signs. To access your findings: just enter location and desired beer (or, awesomely, snap the barcode with your smartphone camera), and BC'll return a complete list of area bars, restaurants, and liquor stores carrying it (from A1 Liquors to Zentan), plus a GPS map showing the location and distance to each, useful for determining the closest store when you're buying, or the furthest when your pledges are picking up the booze wearing blindfolds and Maxi-Pads.Because food can sometimes accompany beer, BC'll also work as your mobile brew-sommelier, matching over 250 vittles with suggested beer styles and labels; now if only there was an app to pair crown molding with a floor laminate that withstands beer and tears...