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Pocket Cocktails is a Class-Act Drinking Companion

I love Cocktail Hour with its fully stocked bar and polite conversation. Happy Hour — Cocktail Hour’s trashy little sister — can be a lot of fun too. Any tradition that encourages Sex on the Beach and offers a choice between Death by Chocolate or Killer Kool-Aid has too be good times, right?

So, Pocket Cocktails is just the thing for a cocktail queen like me. It’s a handy way to browse for recipes and get ideas for all things alcohol.

Pocket Cocktails is broken down into 8 categories: martinis, classics, summer, tropical, creamy, shooters, warmers, and mocktails (for the kiddies). Each category shows an alphabetized list of drinks complete with photos, recipe and ingredient list.

I’ve already taken several cocktail applications for a spin in my search for a good bartender’s guide. The thing most of them lack is good photography. Pocket Cocktails stands out among the rest because of it’s beautiful photos. Every drink has it’s own photo showing the appropriate glass and garnish where applicable. It’s simply delicious!

The overall design is great, too. The retro imagery  fits in with the theme and makes this little iPhone drinking app very intuitive to browse through. With Pocket Cocktails it’s easy to find your next drink whether you know what you’re looking for or not.

And, if you really can’t decide, let Pocket Cocktails be your guide. Use the “Random” feature and let the app suggest a recipe. Click the olive in the lower right corner and you can customize just how random the selection is by limiting the choices to a specific category. Shake your phone and the satisfying tinkle of ice cubes lets you know your on the way to something wonderful.

Overall Pocket Cocktails is a well-design app that shows attention to detail in all the places that really count. However, there a few things I’d still like to see included.

Although you can mark any drink as a favorite, you can’t modify a recipe or add your own version. It’s not a serious flaw, but this level of customization would be nice.

Also, I’d love to have a Flavor Glossary. Something that explains the taste of different liquors and makes suggestions based on your favorite flavor perhaps.

For a anyone who’s incapable of settling down with just one drink — Pocket Cocktails offers a large enough list to keep you trying out new recipes for several seasons of imbibing.