Too Drunk to Google? There's an SF Weekly App for That

By Alexia Tsotsis Tue., Mar. 2 2010 at 1:07 PM

Categories: internets

If you're going to be working on an obviously biased post, it might as well be one that enables the post-work drinking process in all its glory. Thus we present to you Village Voice Media and GoTime's latest collaboration, SF Weekly "Happy Hours," now available in the iTunes store.

If you're the kind of lush that needs asap information on over 15,000 happy hours in 30 different cities nationally then downloading the app, which geo-locates the nearest booze discounts, might be useful.

For example: I tried it in a moment of desperation around 1 a.m. last night and it showed me where I could get a four dollar deal on well drinks less than a mile from my apartment. It even has a nifty "random" function which allows you to shake it for suggestions if you're into feeling lucky.

And because "I don't care how drunk you are, you post before 9 a.m." is something of a motto around here, we went straight to the source and interviewed Village Voice Director of New Media Bill Jensen (our boss) about the app's possible effect on worker (our) productivity:

Alexia Tsotsis: So is it ever too early to start drinking?

Bill Jensen: As long as you can get your work done, and don't have to operate heavy machinery, then no.

When asked a more rational question about what made Happy Hours "special," Jensen responded, "The app store is full of apps with drinking games, mixology, measuring whether you can drive. But actually being able to identify where you are in 30 different cities, tell you the drink specials closest to you, and how long you have to go and grab them---no one is doing that until now."

Well that and the fact that according to a perhaps ill-advised late-night comment thread in M.G. Siegler's "Why Hit Up One Happy Hour When You Can Hit Up 15,000?" (those well drinks were awesome, by the way), Bill Jensen and I will basically function as human open bars for the next month or so.

So if you happen to meet up with us and present iPhone evidence of your "Happy-houring," drinks, at least the first round, are on us. On that note, we'll see you at SXSW.