We're passionate about whiskey—we're based in Kentucky and we've worked with many major players in the distilled products industry. We saw social beer and wine discovery apps like Untappd and UnCork'd, but wanted to build our own app that was focused purely on whiskey. Plus, we wanted to give our summer interns some experience with Ruby and Swift, and thought this would be a fun and worthwhile summer project for them.
We created Open Barrel, an iOS app that lets users discover, rate, and recommend whiskeys to friends. Users can search from a comprehensive list of the world's whiskeys—from Old No. 7 to Pappy 23—then rate and comment on what they're drinking. They can also view a live feed of what their friends are enjoying to discover what they should try next.
We created an Alexa skill that integrates with our beacon- and Slack-enabled Mission Data Office app. Staffers can ask the Amazon Echo to identify the specific location of someone in the office. We also created a skill for Alexa to tell our DC staffers which food trucks are outside the office at any given time.
We created both a haptic compass that buzzes according to the direction of an iPhone and a standalone haptic device to detect iBeacons without the use of a smartphone.