Swig - Another Way To (Over) Share Your Booze Pics

Let’s face it: oversharing and cocktails are just two things Generation Y is down with. Swig, which launched this Wednesday, combines a bit of both. It’s basically Instagram for booze, complete with stickers and filters, and it’s pretty neat. I’ve always found these alcohol indexing apps kind of tiresome, mostly because I’d rather be drinking than snapping photos, but Swig has a friendly little layout and a huge booze database that makes it fun in addition to useful.

I spoke with co-founder Harry Raymond to get a better idea of what Swig is all about. Born and schooled Upstate, Raymond came from a foodie family and combined his love of social media & tech with his thirst for exploring craft booze. In terms of entertainment, Raymond explains that Swig is all about the experience. “It’s not a label scanner. It’s not an inventory app. You share pictures, capture the moment. Tag the name of the drink, let people know what it tastes like.”

And what do I mean by "useful?"

Well, simply put, Swig is good for remembering the involved and often cumbersome names of things you drink. I find this most pertinent to wines, which (to me) tend to have the most redundancy when it comes to titles. (Read: Wine Estate 1 Malbec 2007 sounds a lot more like Wine Estate 2 Malbec 2010 than Death’s Door sounds like Barr Hill). But maybe that’s just me.

In any case, I got to ask Raymond a thing or two.

Let’s get his vitals down, shall we?

FAVORITE BAR: Amor y Amargo “It’s a great little bar.”

FAVORITE LOCAL DISTILLERY: Van Brunt Stillhouse (Editor's note: NY International Spirits Competition 2014 Brooklyn Distillery of the Year!) “Red Hook has a ton of stuff going on these days.”

FAVORITE COCKTAIL: Manhattan. Says Raymond, “Each one is a totally different experience.”

FAVORITE BEER: Sculpin IPA Ballast Point. “It’s a big, hearty, hoppy IPA.”

FAVORITE WINE: Public House Wine. “Is that sacrilegious?”

Swig is currently available for iPhone and Android.

Cheers!