Could drinking beer be any more social?

Australia’s oldest brewery, Cascade, has taken a brave step in the creation of a new iPhone app, The Brewer’s Nose. The app is designed to enable users to discover and recommend beers to friends, and includes over 500 varieties, making it much more than a marketing tool for Cascade’s own products.

Ad agency Droga 5 has worked with Cascade since late last year on a complete revamp of the brand, including an overhaul of the brewery’s website, which now includes easy sharing options to Twitter and Facebook, and meal suggestions for each beer variety. Chairman of Droga 5, David Nobay, told The Australian:

“Most brands would ask why are you going to pay someone to tell people about 500 of your competitors. But this is a big strategic starting point and we want to be highly regarded by beer discoverers.”

The Brewer’s Nose app makes use of barcode-scanning technology, allowing users to scan beer barcodes with the iPhone’s camera. After scanning, users will be able to view a description of the beer, meal suggestions, and a video explanation about that particular beer style.

The interactive elements of the app allow tasting notes to be uploaded to Facebook, as well as geo-tagging with the time and place you had the beer. An interactive map will also enable users to keep track of which beers they have tried, and where. These sharing elements could make recommending and discovering new beer varieties not only simple, but fun.

Although Cascade obviously hopes to increase sales of their own brand, Cascade spokeswoman Mim Orlando told the Australian:

“For something like this to work, we knew it had to have depth and breadth across a range of beers and styles, which is why there are nearly 500 different Australian and international brews.”

A ‘Find a Cascade’ tool is included in the app, helping drinkers to track down pubs and bottleshops nearby that sell Cascade varieties. There are also plans to include rewards for users, including prizes and exclusive offers, as an enticement to use the app.

Although it is currently awaiting approval from Apple, The Brewer’s Nose is expected to be available within the next two weeks in Australia and will be free to download.

Update: We have just received word from Cascade Brewery that an Android app is not on the cards, but for iPhone users, Twitter integration is included.

For those who enjoy trying new beer varieties, this could be a fun and easy way to make that a more social experience, but after a drink or two, would you make the effort to scan your beer and post notes to Facebook about how it tastes?