Finding Beer in the Dark

The days are definitely shorter. Daylight escapes us all while toiling away at work. We leave under the blanket of dusk to head home. Less daylight hours almost always seem to have a negative effect on the motivation to go out on the town. Luckily the powers of the internets make it easier to figure out the closest dimly lit place to go grab a brew in your neighborhood. Last year the beermapping project hit the web with a hot mashup of google maps and a whole database of beer-selling establishments. It was infancy in a web resources – but we went back today with full intention of cleaning out our bookmark folder. Not today. Beermapping stays, especially the localized beermapping boston.

The tool indicates not only the location but the type of the establishment. Included are breweries, brew pubs, bars, liquor stores (ugh…still bereft after defeat of Question 1), and even home brew shops. The data isn't quite complete, neither the Trader Joe's location on Mem. Drive in Cambridge or in Coolidge Corner are listed as selling beer – both do, and we couldn't find any of the homebrew stores we know of on the map. A whole bunch of the little liquor stores around Boston aren't showing up on the map – and we're still waiting for Somerville's police chief to show us where all 26 of the current liquor licenses are (yeah, another Question 1 campaign reference). Overall the plots are well documents and clear on the map.

Competition has come on the scene, however. Super-localized bar maps. Mark Ursino, a Northeastern student, has launched a bar map for the Northeastern area. The BARmap is unique in that it's offering up an individual's memory mashed up with a Google map: "I don't remember the name" liquors on Quensberry and Jersey Streets – which is, incidentally, a great place to grab a 20oz beer in a paper bag to drink while strolling the Victory Garden or walking to Fenway on a hot day – yeah, we don't remember the name either, but they do advertise "coldest beer in town" on the sign. Take your pick of resources or create your own, but tell us about it if you do. Bostonist is always looking for a place to grab a little Winter Warmer.