Mapping the Beer World

On the off chance that there’s someone in the universe who hasn’t discovered the wonderfully useful Beer Mapping Project, I’m picking it as my Website of the Month for March. And it’s not just because I’m an honorary Captain in the BMP Army (I keep wondering when my sword will arrive) nor is because the General, Jonathan Surratt, and his lovely wife Robin, are two of the nicest people I’ve met (yes, I’m coming to Great Taste of the Midwest … soon).

It’s really because Jonathan has taken what’s essentially a simple idea and done just a terrific job of making it incredibly useful. The Beer Mapping Project has taken Google’s offer of allowing free not-for-profit use of their Mapping API and created maps to beer destinations. I remember when he was just getting started and little by little new cities were being added, seemingly daily. Today there are maps in eleven countries around the world, all fifty U.S. states and dozens of cities, including our own San Francisco map. Each map includes breweries, brewpubs, beer bars, beer stores and homebrew shops. There are also reviews, a forum, a way to create your own beer trips, and much, much more. The Beer Mapping Project is without a doubt one of the killer apps of the online beer community.

This is my second pick for “Website of the Month,” which I started featuring on the right sidebar last month, because I get so many link requests, and because I have so many in my blogroll, I wanted to highlight the best ones I come across.