Comparing Web 2.0 Cocktail Applications: CocktailDB, DrinksMixer, ExtraTasty, and Cocktail Builder
January 2nd, 2009
This week we did our homework for New Years - online drink recipe applications. If you would like to a primer on the subject, there is our post, Taking In The New Year: Web 2.0 Cocktail Recipe Applications, and links to the full reviews are below. We'll talk more about CocktailDB, Drinksmixer, Extratasty, and Cocktail Builder after the chart, but we should begin with saying that all the applications this week returned results on ingredients and by name. Read More »
When users land on CocktailDB they may well feel that they have arrived; the application that features a large database with the ability to suggest by mood and ingredient has been lovingly prepared, and made bartending simple. 
If there's one thing that complements cocktails well, it's friends, which is why ExtraTasty's approach to a social drink database makes sense. Look up the recipes you want to try, share favorites with friends, and even send it along to your mobile with ExtraTasty. 
Hosted by the entertainment site CraveOnline, users looking for cocktails may mistake the ad-heavy DrinksMixer for only a promotional tool, but the recipe application has one of the largest collections of cocktails, from the homespun to the famous. 
While simplistic in appearance and layout, cocktail builder has the range of function that the home bartender would want. Get recipes and suggestions while rating your favorite cocktails, or using an ingredient list to come up with new cocktails with cocktail builder. 
Looking at Foodari, you may think it to be a bit cluttered - even its tabs seem cramped - but Foodari's cramped because it's trying to do it all. Recipes, books, videos, forums, and food related feeds (blogs and stories) from the web. 
The first thing you notice with OpenSourceFood is the clean and modern design, bringing a high contrast layout with large, full pictures. Navigation is easy - links are quickly found, and the tab layout (Overview, Recipes, Voted, Following, People) lets users get to the area they want quickly. Keyword search is on the main page and the recipe tab will show suggestions. 
Clean, easy-to-use, and with a large number of recipes possible (250,000 they say), Supercook is an application that takes recipe searching from a different angle -- what ingredients you've got on hand. 
When it comes to recipes you want more than a tool for finding recipes - you want to save them, organize them, and maybe even create a menu for an event. Reci-P lets you do this and more, by providing a recipe book that's entirely online. 
