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iPhone app predicts whether you’ll like the beer or wine you’re looking at in the store [Video]

Sure, there are shopping apps out there that will read the barcode of a product and let you know whether you could buy it more cheaply online, but someone has now tackled a far more more important issue: will you actually enjoy that bottle of beer or wine you’re eyeing up in the store?

Next Glass is a free iPhone app that uses your own personal taste preferences to predict how likely you are to enjoy a beer or wine you’ve never tried before. If you’re buying for a dinner party or other social occasion, you can link to friends using the same app and it’ll show you how much they’ll like it too … 

The ratings are based on what the developers claim is a deep analysis of the chemical make-up of each drink.

Next Glass has tested tens of thousands of wines and beers, analyzing over 20,000 compounds within each bottle to identify what the tongue perceives as ‘taste’. The chemical makeup (or ‘DNA’) of each bottle is then stored in our one-of-a-kind Genome Cellar.

From there, with every bottle you rate, Next Glass learns the chemistry behind your likes and dislikes, allowing the app to focus on your unique preferences. Ratings are stored in your personalized Taste Profile, which continues to evolve with your palate.

Using the app is as simple as pointing it at the label. There’s also a search function that lets you identify new beers and wines that match your taste preferences.

Next Glass is a free download on iTunes. If you try it out, let us know in comments how well it does.

[youtube=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HHjpbJP5nn4]

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Comments

  1. Kraft - 9 years ago

    Anyone try this app out yet? If the database is large enough, it could reduce the anxiety of ditching the old favorite and trying out a new craft beer.

    • Chuck Diesel - 9 years ago

      I usually just look stuff up on beer advocate on my phone when I’m thinking about trying different stuff.

  2. Greg Brown (@gk_brown) - 9 years ago

    This sounds like it will be a really useful app until the developers realize how difficult it will be to keep their reference data up to date and stop updating it.

  3. Matt Schlotzhauer - 9 years ago

    Well, its slick but not overly accurate. After putting in a number of wines I particularly like with either 3 or 4 star ratings the suggestion it provides for something in the same type that I might like are not accurate. ie. it suggests a wine which I’ve tried more than once and just don’t like, sooo… their chemical analysis database concept leave a bit to be desired when it comes to matching someones taste buds – JMTC…

    • jjcoolstuff - 9 years ago

      I would imagine it just gets better over time and it hasn’t learned your preferences yet. Just like when you first started listening to Pandora it took a while for it to learn what songs you like.

  4. This sounds like total BS. Aka snake oil.

    Even if their profiles and predictions did work, pointing a camera at a bottle seems like a really PITA UX.

    • jjcoolstuff - 9 years ago

      it’s not painful at all. I don’t know if you’ve ever used the Amazon app on the iPhone but it works very similar. It just quickly analyzes the picture and gives you the results. With the iPhone 6 it’s even faster since it has the focus pixels and can latch on to the image quickly. The total process from opening the app to getting the rating takes less than five seconds. (btw, I don’t have any association with this app. I’m just trying to provide some feedback on the negative comments that I don’t think are accurate).

  5. Joe LaGreca - 9 years ago

    Does anyone know why this app is a “get” instead of “free” in the appstore?

  6. frankman91 - 9 years ago

    If I go in to a beer distributor with a person and he starts waving his phone around at all the beer bottles to make his or her selection, then I would choose not to drink with said person upon checkout.

    I still have not forgiven the “Untapped” app for destroying my fun at Philadelphia beer festival at the Naval yard last March. Nothing like hanging out with a group of friends playing with their phones the whole time we are supposed to be hanging out at a beer fest.

    Go out with some friends, grab a few random six packs and have some fun and leave your phone in your pocket where it belongs. Beer advice app…for Christ stake.

    • Chuck Diesel - 9 years ago

      If I’m looking at some more expensive beers I usually just check beer advocate etc. to get an idea, but yeah I agree sometimes you just need to say F it & try it.

  7. herb02135go - 9 years ago

    It’s free, all you give up is data about your preferences, location and other things that can be sold to track you.

    It’s a great market research tool.

    • herb02135go - 9 years ago

      I’m sure it will be as helpful as other apps that make recommendations.

      You bought shoes. May I recommend a hat?

      Recommendations are just another way to get into your wallet.

  8. It’s all about Delectable for wine at least https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=koK9sh6CMuw

Author

Avatar for Ben Lovejoy Ben Lovejoy

Ben Lovejoy is a British technology writer and EU Editor for 9to5Mac. He’s known for his op-eds and diary pieces, exploring his experience of Apple products over time, for a more rounded review. He also writes fiction, with two technothriller novels, a couple of SF shorts and a rom-com!


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