h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Yay Me! For I have revolutionised beer buying. No more will you have to wander the supermarket aisles like a lonley batcherlor at a party, no more will you have to suffer from the embaressment of buying a pint of beer because you happen to be intrigued by the amusing name, only to find it's not at all what you were expecting, and really not at all like something you'd be happy to drink.

For I, yes, I! have developed a profiling system.

Okay, profiling systems are all the rage at the moment, or rather they will be. What I've done however is set up a system that finds your perfect beer for you. Cool huh? It does this by asking you to register with the site, so it can build a record of your drinking preferences. Then it asks you to rate the beers that you have already tried, between 1 and 10. From this it builds up a nice little visual graphical representation of your beer palate.

Already stored in the database are the palates of a load of beers (okay, only about ten at the moment) and then the system uses some rather funky algorythms to work out a percentage match between the beer and your tast buds. So, you know whether or not you are likely to like a beer before you've even tried it, or even before you've even heard of it! How Cool?!?!?!

It's sort of like having your own Personal Beer Shopper

Alright, I admit it, I'm rather excited by this project, but that's not surprising really as I'm doing most of it.

So, what use is this really? Well, I'm doing this with a mate of mine, who'll be doing all the business side of it, and we're looking to not just match and suggest beers to the users, but also to then sell them to them, as a sort of affiliate system with a mail order beer company. We've not approached the company yet, but hopefully they'll see how great an idea this is. I mean, imagine rather than just ordering a crate of 12 beers that you've had before, and know you like, you can order in a mixed case, 6 you know, and 6 recommened by the palate system! And not just English beers either, what if you wanted to try some Belgian beers? Why risk buying in ones that you might end up hating? This system solves the problem. Of course, we'd be looking for a cut of all sales placed through us

And then there's advertising. The potential of advertising to a select community that is actually your target audience is wonderful. Depending on us getting a community that is.

But then, we're also building an online community onto this site, starting off with just forums and building up to games rooms and a streaming online jukebox! Seriously !!

Add to that the usefullness to publicans. Being able to log into the site and look at some of the statistics. Being able to see which beers are currently getting rated highly in their area. What sort of palates the drinkers near them have. And helpful to brewers as well, letting them see how their beers compare with others. And with the whole forum thing, allowing drinkers to comment on breweries, beers and pubs, lanlords and brewers can find out what people really think of them!

Overall, I think it's a grand idea. I would be very interested in this sort of information, personally. I'm enamored of a local brewer here simply because they're unusually clever about giving you a good idea of what their beer will taste like before you buy it.

I would, however, nix the jukebox and games unless they're adorably beer-related. While all that is fun, it's not very professional. And let's face it, people aren't there to play games or music. They're there for the beer, and are therefore more likely to approve of a clean and simple interface than one cluttered with bells and whistles.

So how exactly are you getting the statistics for the palates of beers? From the manufacturer, personal experience, or the users themselves?

As always, I'm available to peek around the site.

congratulations on getting it up and running.

So to Speak

I take it you'll be at the winter Nodlon meet?

Z, can't remember when the winter meet is

Frag, I'd love you to poke around and have a play.
The jukebox / games and all that will be in a seperate part of the site, so they won't detract from the information interface, but enhance the community aspect. And the streaming music will be set with a user preference to turn it off.
Next time I see you on yim I'll let you know where it is to play.

Oo'ah!

Hmm, I know a brewery that is just starting to Bottle

Toc, do you fancy giving it your brewers eye once over? It could do with some alpha testing.

More than happy to

If sales at the brewery are any indication my selling skills arn't up to much, but new eyes never hurt

Point me at it

Do you have email or messanger or something? I'm not too keen to put the address of my test server on the 'net.

Or you can email myself at steve.dunkleybtconnect.com

Cool

Reply sent off and winging it's way through the ether to you!