May 6th, 2008

Get Mr. Boston for your iPod

Mr. Boston Guide for iPodMr. Boston’s Official Bartender’s and Party Guide is the only thing on my iPod right now. Yeah, in order to install the Mac version of the Guide, I had to re-format my iPod, which, being a hand-me-down from Scott, was originally formatted for Windows. As anyone who has struggled with iTunes’ sociopathic quirks knows, that meant I had to erase everything on the damn thing — 35 gigabytes of music, roughly.

But now I have 1,200 cocktail recipes on hand wherever I go! Who needs the entire Beatles catalog when you have the Mr. Boston drinks database? (OK, I’m not sweating too much. I’ll have both as soon as I re-load my iTunes library back onto the pod.)

Even after all that, I highly recommend this thing. It’s really cool. You scroll through cocktails in alphabetical order by base spirit, and there are short histories of liquors, tips on bartending and party planning, etc. The screens are ultra-clean-looking and easy to read. You may be wondering: is this some jive-ass, out-of-print version of the Mr. Boston Guide? No. It’s based on the latest, “platinum” edition released a few years ago and edited by drinks writer and Boston Magazine contributor Anthony Giglio.

I showed it to a bartender friend of mine last night — someone who has an impressive library of rare, old cocktail books — and this individual exclaimed, “I want that!” If you want it, too, you’re in luck, because the Guide’s producer, Raybook, is having a sale — two sales, actually. Until the end of May, you can use the code SPRING08 to get a 20% discount off the download, which is currently already on sale for $15.99 (down from $19.99). So, if you’re not in iTunes limbo and you have 246 megabytes to spare on your iPod, you can’t really lose here.

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6 Responses to “Get Mr. Boston for your iPod”

  1. Br. Cleve
    May 6th, 2008 at 3:17 pm

    Thanks for the info on this! Sometimes I’ll be at the bar, wondering ‘what the hell do I want’. Now I can put my iPod in random or shuffle mode and spin the wheel! Sort of an alcoholic version of Russian Roulette. Which it could be — I’d die if I had to drink a Fuzzy Navel! Can I spin again?

  2. ljclark
    May 6th, 2008 at 3:28 pm

    Yes, a chilling thought. Though it would be fun to turn the tables and see the Fuzzy Navel drinker forced to drink a Pink Gin.

  3. Adam L
    May 7th, 2008 at 5:29 pm

    I totally dig this! But… I’m in iPod limbo of another sort. Either an iPod mini (wicked old) or my soon to be new iPhone. Neither of which are supported.

    Heck if it worked on the mini I’d keep the mini JUST as my bar guide :-).

    And with the iPhone I wonder if I’d just hit cocktaildb.com and use the Random Recipie or the Mixalator!

    (That being said – MORE BARS NEED FREE WI-FI!)

    iCheers.

  4. ljclark
    May 7th, 2008 at 6:01 pm

    Oh, yeah! Running the Mixalator on your iPhone will be a blast! Frankly, you won’t need Mr. Boston on your iPod if you have access to cocktail websites. Don’t forget the Boston cocktails section of drinkboston…

  5. jon from NH
    May 8th, 2008 at 8:13 pm

    I have an 80 GB iPod and don’t have 246 MB to spare. How pathetic is that? Hmm, maybe I really don’t need all those Ace of Base live in Uppsala bootlegs after all…

  6. ljclark
    May 9th, 2008 at 2:13 pm

    Um, yeah. One Ace of Base in Uppsala bootleg oughta do it.

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