The Best Craft Beer Apps (For Drinking and Brewing)

Image of the best mobile apps for brewing and distilling

The best place to navigate the beer world, whether it be craft or otherwise, is now through your cell phone.

Simply, search in the app/play store for “beer” and you’ll find many great apps for brewing and distilling.

Unfortunatly – Many of these apps are unfortunately geared towards binge-drinking games or just poor attempts to cash in on the craft beer boom.

In this article, we’re going to share with you 7 must-have apps if you’re a homebrewer or beer snob.

The 6 Best Mobile Apps for Craft Beer and Brewing (In 2023)

If you’re on the lookout for a good craft beer or even making your own homebrew, then here are some of the best apps for brewing and distilling:

  1. Untapped – Best beer journal
  2. BJCP Styles – Best for honing your palate
  3. myBeerNation – Best for finding new beer
  4. iBrewMaster – Best beginner homebrewing app
  5. Beer Buddy – Best social app for beer heads
  6. Beer Menus – Up-to-date tap lists of local bars.
  7. Brewfather – Best homebrewing app

Read More: in this article we share the best brewing software for PC and online.

1. Untappd – Best beer journal

This app is extremely popular amongst craft beer fans. It is considered the best beer journal app too. Untapped will find venues that serve craft beer that are close to you and allow you to rate and take photos of different beers.

The more craft beers you try, the more badges you will get. Untappd will suggest a variety of beers as well as allow you to “compete” with friends.

One reason for its popularity is that, as a “beer journal” app, it keeps a log of any and every beer you have previously tried and how you rated it. Secondly, the app gets constant updates and has no issues with lag.

We particularly like that this app is free and has a five-star rating from most users. This shows just how fantastic and reliable this app is.

Pros:

  • Discover nearby venues, events, and beers
  • Keep track of the beers you like
  • It will notify you when vendors have specific beers available

Cons:

  • Some versions of the app freeze (make sure you update regularly)
Image of untapped brewing app screenshot

2. BJCP Styles – Best for honing your palate

Many consider BJCP Styles the best beer education app. Not everyone can commit to the time and effort required to complete the Beer Judge Certification Program (BJCP), which officially certifies you as a user, allowing you to judge craft beer.

All you need to do is type in the name of any beer and the app will draw from its extensive archive to tell you its history. The app also highlights ingredients, what to expect in terms of aroma, flavor, and appearance, and plenty more.

If you are looking to rate beer consistently or maybe you are just searching for a little bit of enlightenment regarding beer, BJCP Styles is a great resource.

Designed for iPad, BJCP Styles is rated a 4.9 with over 500 ratings, all of which are positive reviews. It reveals just how important this app is as a tool and craft beer textbook for many people.

Pros:

  • Officially certifies you to judge craft beer
  • Highly informative

Cons:

  • Only suitable for Apple products
Image of diy distilling the best apps for brewing and distilling bjcp styles on the app store
Screenshots of the BJCP Styles app

3. myBeerNation – Best for finding new beer

If you are on the hunt for breweries, myBeerNation is the way to go. Their living archive consists of over 4,000 breweries around the world. myBeerNation outshines any other brewery hunting app.

To get what you are looking for, simply type in the specific beer you want, city or state, and myBeerNation will guide you as well as provide brewery information such as its address, phone number, and touring options.

It will also keep track of the breweries you have already visited. If you happen to be on a road trip and your goal is to tour breweries or simply live in a city that is rich in breweries, this app is well worth the $5.

Pros:

  • Makes it easy to find the beer you are hunting for
  • Great tracking features

Cons:

  • Not free – Costs $4.99 USD
Image of diy distilling the best apps for brewing and distilling beer nation

4. iBrewMaster – Best beginner homebrewing app

This home brewing app is considered the best home brewing app in the app store.

As we all know, brewing your own beer is a science. Not only that, it requires a substantial time commitment. If you are willing to dedicate yourself, this app is the perfect one for you.

It comes with 50 pre-installed recipes. You can also create your own recipes as well as purchase more from within the app. Based on what you create, iBrewMaster will give you estimations on original and final gravities, the potential alcohol content and many more important figures, before you even start brewing.

Once you have started your homebrew, the app will guide you through the process from start to finish. This includes buying ingredients, fermenting, bottling, and aging.

It only has a three-star rating but is very popular among home brewers.

Pros:

  • 50 pre-installed recipes
  • You can create your own recipes
  • Provides estimates for custom recipes

Cons:

  • Time-consuming
Image of ibrewpaster app screenshots best brewing app

5. Beer Buddy – Best social app for beer heads

If you are in the app store and want to discover a new bottle, Beer Buddy is the app for you. For many drinkers, taps are considered the “holy grail.”

Beer Buddy is perfect for anybody who is on a constant hunt for liquor stores that offer new beers to try. This app has the best barcode scanner of any app around, which allows users to scan any beer and find out its history, what brewing is about, what people think of it and so much more.

The app has a large database and is easy to use. It has gained many positive reviews and has a 4.9-star rating. The best part? IT IS FREE!

Pros:

  • Notify your friends when you’re having a beer so they can join you

Cons:

  • Too many differences between Apple and Android versions
  • Unable to see the leader board, tag and like comments, and delete posts if the app is downloaded on Android
  • No group messaging.
Image of beer buddy app screenshot best brewing app

6. BeerMenus – Up-to-date tap lists of local bars.

For the best tap list finder, try out BeerMenus. This is really the only app that provides up-to-date tap lists to allow beer hunters to know what is on tap before they go try out a beer.

The app also allows users to follow specific beers and businesses. If a beer becomes available, or when the “On Tap” menu changes, the app will notify you. It will also notify you of any other bottles that may be available. This way, you never miss out.

Simple, clean, and easy to use. This app is a unique app for those living in the city who must decide between many different bar options.

You have the option to install this app on your Apple or Android device. BeerMenus has been rated 2.7 with over 100 reviews. It may not be the most popular app, but it will broaden your horizons in terms of beer menus and the different places to buy beer.

Pros:

  • Log the beers to keep track of and easily find your favorites.
  • Easily find places that sell your favorite beer or beers you may want to try.
  • Instant notification of when beers become available nearby.
  • Available on Apple and Android
Image of beer menu best app for live tracking beer screenshot

7. Brewfather – Best homebrewing app

This is an easy-to-use tool for your brewing needs. You can easily create and manage your own recipes, and keep track of all the necessary details in your batches as well as your ingredients inventory.

Brewfather is designed to give you the best recipe and brewing experience on both desktop and mobile devices. It has automatic synchronization between all your devices along with offline support. The app includes a recipe designer that offers batch tracking as well as inventory management. This makes your brewing experience even more memorable and enjoyable.

You can also explore the library, which offers hundreds of quality recipes. Brewfather has a 4.2 rating with over 1,000 reviews and over 100,000 downloads.

This is a reliable and easy-to-use app.

Pros:

  • Great at helping design recipes
  • Great browsing tool
  • No ads

Cons:

Image of brewfather complete beer design and tracking screenshot app

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