No matter where you fall on the drinking spectrum - from novice to experienced - and no matter what you like to drink, there’s likely an available app that can help make your experience better. From food pairings to special occasion recommendations to sharing what you’re drinking with your friends, apps and mobile sites developed for today’s smart phones make it easy for you drink well and drink socially.

Best Beer Apps

BEER CLOUD

This comprehensive app is great for the novice and more experienced beer lover alike. Features include descriptions of more than 140 beer styles and sub-styles, the ability to find your favorite brews in your neighborhood, plus food and beer pairing suggestions. The only thing left for you to do is enjoy the beer!

Cost: Free!

BEER MATCH

Making your favorite dish and not sure which beer would pair best with it? Beer Match, which pairs 31 styles of beer with more than 500 different kinds of food, is your answer. You’ll get matches for everything from meats to seafood to cheeses.

Cost: $1.99

UNTAPPD

This web-based application lets you check in both to the beers you’re drinking and where you’re drinking them. Send status updates to your friends on Untappd (plus, FourSquare, Twitter, & Facebook) to let them know what you’re enjoying. You can also earn badges for all kinds of things you’re already doing, and really, who doesn’t like that?

Cost: Free!

Best Wine Apps

TASTING NOTES

This app is great not only for wine - you can also keep tasting notes for beers, whiskies, cigars, and coffee - to keep track of what you like to drink and why you like to drink it.

Cost: $2.99

HELLO VINO

More for the novice than the wine connoisseur, I’ve come to rely on this app to help me choose the best wine and food pairings. It’s also great helping you choose wines for a particular occasion. Best of all, it’s free, which can’t be said of a lot of wine apps out there.

Cost: Free!

Best Drink Specials/Happy Hour App

DRINK PHILLY MOBILE

(Warning! Shameless plug!) Like Untappd, the Drink Philly mobile app can be added to your home screen via m.drinkphilly.com on your mobile device. It is a great way to find the best happy hours and drink specials when you’re out in and around Philadelphia. GPS-enabled, the app will bring up the specials closest to where you are – or you can search by neighborhood, day, drink prices, and atmosphere. Never go thirsty again!

Cost: Free!

Before your next night (or day) out, take some time to review these and the many other apps available for your drinking pleasure. There’s sure to be one that fits your needs.

About Philly Beer Girl:

Philly Beer Girl is a craft beer enthusiast who aims to educate women (and men) about the wonderful world of craft beer. In addition to reviewing beers and bars on Drink Philly, she writes beer-related musings on her blog, Philly Beer Girl. You can also follow Helene on Twitter, where she tweets way too often - and at odd times - about what she's drinking.