Drinking All By Yourself? There's An App For That

[Zaune]

Daily Dot

Thanks to the magic of apps, you can have booze delivered right to your doorstep.

The function of Minibar, which launched Wednesday, is simple: You sign up with your iPhone or iPad, then just pick and click a bottle of liquor or wine. It's like a Party Barn on wheels, assuming you live in New York City.

Sure, it has its issues—IRL alcoholism is an ugly thing—but it seemed the perfect app to review. (It’s difficult to beat getting my employer to reimburse me for sitting at home and drinking.)

"OMG. This now puts booze on par with pizza for ease of delivery if it works well," my coworker Grant Robertson told me as he downloaded it and placed his own order.

The only problem is that it’s not a good app. By that I mean Minibar is quite buggy. I had to enter my address twice, and my credit card several times. At one point Minibar simply locked up, wheel in the center of the screen happy to spin forever. I don't use my iPad often, but this was the first time I've ever had to do a hard shutdown. When I first entered my zip code, it told me only Manhattan customers would get speedy service, and I live in Brooklyn. That’s the kind of second-rate service you usually get from cabbies.

As a fan of Justified who grew up a few miles outside Kentucky, I chose bourbon. Minibar has a dozen of them. Since I'm well familiar with Kings County's version, I went with the other local hooch on the menu, a small bottle of Widow Jane. It didn't give me an estimated delivery time, so I tried to check my status under "Orders," which marked my bottle's status as "Delivered," a claim that turned out to be very untrue.

As I poked around the app for a number to call (which kind of defeats the purpose, since liquor delivered by phone order is already a thing in my neighborhood), they called me first.

"Hi, Kevin? This is Lara from Minibar. You just tried to order a 200-mL bottle? Well, we're out of stock, unfortunately, so we're just going to send you a 750 mL bottle instead. Since you placed the order already, we won't charge you extra."

At this point in the story, I'd like to point out that I have a lot of integrity when it comes to ordering liquor to my house on the company dime and complaining that the technology behind it isn't perfect. I never mentioned to her that I was writing about her service, so this was in no way a plot to get a better review. Unless she googled my name before calling me, in which case she's a schemer who has played us all.

Then I had an email confirmation, which estimated an hour. And it was right: A guy came to my door 55 minutes later, had me sign a receipt (you pre-pay tip), and handed me a bottle.

Business was doing OK, he said, but he clearly didn't want to chat: He had bottles to deliver. So he gingerly stepped around the day's slush, into his dark, late-'90s Pontiac, and onto his next delivery adventure. While he was less than friendly, Minibar's Twitter personality is quite amiable.

Would I use Minibar again? Likely, no. My local liquor store delivers with a simple phone (with no room for glitches). So the convenience of staying home is already available, sans iOS-created meltdowns—and if what I’m looking for is some witty repartee with my bartender, the lackluster exchange I had with the delivery guy isn’t going to cut it.

But I will say this: If you should ever be tasked with sitting at home for work and there’s a new booze-delivery app in your area you’re asked to order and then drink free booze from, Minibar has got you covered.

It might be irrational, but something about this whole concept makes me very, very uncomfortable on more than one level. Apart from the whole "enabling alcohol abuse" angle, and it's hard to see how this is worse than getting booze delivered with your groceries, have we really reached the point where people would rather buy their liquor from a smartphone app and drink at home than go to a bar or something?

[salm]

How does this enable alcohol abuse when you can just walk around the corner and get it in a shop or order a beer taxi by phone or internet without the app?

As for the drinking at home part: I mean bars are fine and all but I often just have people at my place or go to their place and drink beer there. That´s when an app like that might be usefull. Well, if I was lazy and patient enough anyway. It´s much better to walk 30 meters to the next shop selling beer than waiting an hour for a fucking beer taxi and then pay more money because the delivery costs on top of the drinks.

[Raw Shark]

Apart from the whole "enabling alcohol abuse" angle, and it's hard to see how this is worse than getting booze delivered with your groceries, have we really reached the point where people would rather buy their liquor from a smartphone app and drink at home than go to a bar or something?

Think about what this means to the drunken paraplegics, man!

But seriously, it's not like you lose your bar privileges if you download this thing. Delivery of anything is a hotly-contested commodity in NYC, and these guys are just trying (and apparently failing at the moment) to do it faster and easier than a phone call.

[Zaune]

Think about what this means to the drunken paraplegics, man!

But seriously, it's not like you lose your bar privileges if you download this thing. Delivery of anything is a hotly-contested commodity in NYC, and these guys are just trying (and apparently failing at the moment) to do it faster and easier than a phone call.

Yeah, there is that, I guess.

I think the main source of my discomfort with this concept is all those evenings where I've ordered from Domino's instead of my local takeaway (who make better pizza and charge less for it) because I just can't face having to hold a conversation with someone and they have a website. That is not a scenario where adding hard liquor to the equation is going to end well, you know?

[Raw Shark]

Lots of businesses can enable crippling social anxiety. Should they all just be shut down as a public service?

[Flagg]

I'd rather they get it delivered than either drive to a liquor store and take a few swigs on the drive home or drink half the bottle on the walk home and stumble into traffic.

[Thanas]

What makes this any different from any of the already existing delivery/postal services which will send alcohol to you? I mean, I can have spirits send to my house every day in Germany from all over the world and amazingly my consumption has not increased.

I'd rather they get it delivered than either drive to a liquor store and take a few swigs on the drive home or drink half the bottle on the walk home and stumble into traffic.

That too.

[Eternal_Freedom]

I could get them delivered here, but I already have a few bottles on my shelf that I hardly drink anyway. I see the main problem here is the buggy app not the idea.

[Raw Shark]

I think the main source of my discomfort with this concept is all those evenings where I've ordered from Domino's instead of my local takeaway (who make better pizza and charge less for it) because I just can't face having to hold a conversation with someone and they have a website. That is not a scenario where adding hard liquor to the equation is going to end well, you know?

Frankly, and I mean this in the nicest possible way, the above text comes off to me like, "I dislike talking to other people so much that I am willing to screw myself out of a better pizza for less money, and then I feel like such a dipshit afterwards that I might drink way more than I want to, given opportunity."

I am not saying this to mock you; I am saying this because I care. Talking to other people is a very useful skill that can get you concrete benefits such as better pizza for less money. Some of us, such as you and I, are total shit at this skill by nature, but unless one is actually disabled it can be learned. Finding the will to pull yourself together and get the cheaper, better pizza would be an admirable self-set goal with immediate and lasting rewards.

[Napoleon the Clown]

I'd rather they get it delivered than either drive to a liquor store and take a few swigs on the drive home or drink half the bottle on the walk home and stumble into traffic.

Damn, beat me to it.


No way I can see this happening in Utah, given out liquor laws. You can't get anything but beer from the grocery store or gas stations. And shitty beer at that. If you want anything over 3.2% ABV (IIRC) you've gotta go to a state liquor store, or buy it by the shot/martini/margarita/whatver at a place with a liquor license.

I can see value if someone can't get what they want from any place nearby. Stuff that any of the stores within walking distance don't have and you don't feel like driving/taking a cab to go pick up some liquor for a party or what have you. Sure, a lot of people will end up using it for lonely drinking. But not everyone.

Of course, there's also having liquor delivered to someone else just for giggles. But that would be bad.

[Zaune]

Frankly, and I mean this in the nicest possible way, the above text comes off to me like, "I dislike talking to other people so much that I am willing to screw myself out of a better pizza for less money, and then I feel like such a dipshit afterwards that I might drink way more than I want to, given opportunity."

Not quite, but not far off. I manage well enough most of the time, it's just that my episodes of crippling social anxiety and my episodes of suicidal gloom tend to flare up more or less simultaneously, and if I had the ability to get my hands on any serious booze during one of those little moments without having to venture outside...

Well, on the plus side, there's still my longstanding intolerance of cheap booze.

[Flagg]

Frankly, and I mean this in the nicest possible way, the above text comes off to me like, "I dislike talking to other people so much that I am willing to screw myself out of a better pizza for less money, and then I feel like such a dipshit afterwards that I might drink way more than I want to, given opportunity."

Not quite, but not far off. I manage well enough most of the time, it's just that my episodes of crippling social anxiety and my episodes of suicidal gloom tend to flare up more or less simultaneously, and if I had the ability to get my hands on any serious booze during one of those little moments without having to venture outside...

Well, on the plus side, there's still my longstanding intolerance of cheap booze.

I'm not trying to be insulting or phishing for something to make fun of you with, but are you morbidly obese? The reason I ask is that I had a gastric bypass about 3 or 4 years ago and that holiday season got a bottle of crown royal black (shut up Hav) and got shitfaced after drinking maybe 3 ounces in a watered down tumbler full. Turns out when you have a bypass and you drink it hits you like directly injecting ethanol into your veins. I haven't had a drink since because there is no buzz it's instantly pass out shitfaced with even a single shot. So if you have a drinking problem and a weight problem and you talk to a COMPETENT doctor who recommends the surgery I'd seriously consider it.

[Zaune]

I don't think so, though I am significantly overweight. And I don't really have a drinking problem either; I've hit the bottle pretty hard a few times but it's never got the point of dependency, although I can easily see myself developing one if I didn't have anyone -even a bartender or the guy behind the counter of my local off-license- in a position to tell me, "Alright, you've had enough now."

[General Zod]

I think the main source of my discomfort with this concept is all those evenings where I've ordered from Domino's instead of my local takeaway (who make better pizza and charge less for it) because I just can't face having to hold a conversation with someone and they have a website. That is not a scenario where adding hard liquor to the equation is going to end well, you know?

Frankly, and I mean this in the nicest possible way, the above text comes off to me like, "I dislike talking to other people so much that I am willing to screw myself out of a better pizza for less money, and then I feel like such a dipshit afterwards that I might drink way more than I want to, given opportunity."

I am not saying this to mock you; I am saying this because I care. Talking to other people is a very useful skill that can get you concrete benefits such as better pizza for less money. Some of us, such as you and I, are total shit at this skill by nature, but unless one is actually disabled it can be learned. Finding the will to pull yourself together and get the cheaper, better pizza would be an admirable self-set goal with immediate and lasting rewards.

On the other hand, the main benefit I see out of ordering online vs the phone is that you don't have to put up with thick and difficult to understand accents, and risk getting your order and/or address entirely wrong. Of course this isn't really as much of a problem if you go to the place yourself.

[Flagg]

I don't think so, though I am significantly overweight. And I don't really have a drinking problem either; I've hit the bottle pretty hard a few times but it's never got the point of dependency, although I can easily see myself developing one if I didn't have anyone -even a bartender or the guy behind the counter of my local off-license- in a position to tell me, "Alright, you've had enough now."

Sounds like me about 8 or 9 years ago. I once tried to impress a pretty girl by showing how much alcohol I could drink and handle (this does not work, I found this out). Anyway I drank so much (I'm not saying how much because it's douchey to brag about doing stupid shit) that according to my friends, who were true friends, I tried to eat a door and got into a fight with a tree. I lost. Woke up the next morning and was told what a complete and utter jackass I was and never got that drunk again. And I haven't even had a beer in like 2 years due to the aforementioned instant shitface issue. It's honestly a good thing because there is alcoholism in my family.

[Zaune]

I can't say I've ever got to that point, but I do remember waking up the day after my 25th birthday (which I'd spent with only the Internet and cheap whiskey for company) with a splitting headache, vague recollections of naked moshing taking place at some point and an email in my inbox entitled "Welcome to LetsGoCottaging.com".

Important lesson learned: Never attempt to mix drinks in anything wider at the stem than at the neck, made of smoked glass or both. My first couple of doubles ended up being more like quads, after which I stopped paying attention to my measures at all and it was all downhill from there.

[muse]

Fortunately there's a liquor store 5 minutes from where i live.
Also, I'm drinking right now.

[fuzzymillipede]

Fuck. I'm wasted at my office again. Why do they provide us such volumes of free alcohol?

[Raw Shark]

Fuck. I'm wasted at my office again. Why do they provide us such volumes of free alcohol?

To see whether you can keep state secrets to yourself while in your cups, of course. They might hit you with a honey trap next, probably combined with the booze, so watch out for that.