Published: Monday, May 28, 2012 at 11:55 p.m.
Last Modified: Monday, May 28, 2012 at 11:55 p.m.
LAKELAND | So there you are, smack in the middle of Disney World. Sun shining. Kids screaming (hopefully with pleasure). And you need a beer.
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The Beers and Ears iPhone app for finding craft beers at Walt Disney World. (SCREEN CAPTURES)
Take heart!
Now there's an app for that.
"It's great!" said Adam Weeks, a programmer for a Polk County citrus firm and an acquaintance of Scott Oliver, the developer of the Beers and Ears Walt Disney World Beer List App.
Weeks and friend Brian Knowles, both of Winter Haven, have their own app, the Brewski Me iPhone application that launched last summer. It helps beer drinkers track brands and styles and keep up with what their buds are drinking.
Weeks said he finds the Beers and Ears application most useful. "Being an avid beer fan and a Disney pass holder, it's a great tool for helping you find some of the more unique beers around the Disney properties."
Oliver is a self-described information geek from Houston who developed Beers and Ear as a free application for iPhone and iPad devices.
He and like-minded friends, mostly young, married Disneyphiles with kids and annual passes to one or more of the Orlando-based theme parks, first devised a website, www.beersandears.net. There, the group of 17 friends wax poetically about park brews, which at last count numbered 188.
"They have all the usual, Miller, Bud, but there are a lot of craft beers," said Oliver, 28, a father of three who works in the information technology division of a Texas oil company. "Some of them you kind of have to hunt down a bit, but they're there."
The website, which has been in operation for a year, led Oliver and his friends to indulge their beer fantasies by way of Twitter. Frustrated by limitations of the social networking site, Oliver designed the Disney beer application for smartphones.
Since January, the application has been available exclusively on Apple devices, Oliver said, and he hopes to have a version soon that can be uploaded on Android phones and tablets.
So far, the program has been downloaded "a couple thousand times at least," he said.
The idea of Beers and Ears isn't entirely new. There are several blogs and websites unaffiliated with Disney that are devoted to finding adult beverages on Disney properties. They include travelingmamas.com, which steers thirsty souls to margaritas, beer and wine for a little "me time."
Oliver's program is tailored to the connoisseur of fine beer. It gives users a list of every available brew. Tap the screen and you're directed to a list of restaurants and lounges where you can relax and enjoy.
Magic Kingdom, however, is devoid of all alcohol, according to a Disney spokeswoman.
But there's no shortage of other Disney locales serving up everything from Abita Brewing Company's Purple Haze, a raspberry-flavored wheat lager, to the trio of Chimay Belgian Trappist ales, to Yuengling Black & Tan.
With the Beers and Ears app, one can zero in on Safari Amber, a red ale from Anheuser-Busch, at Animal Kingdom's Yak & Yeti Restaurant. Or there's Orlando Brewing's organic Brown Ale, a local treat on tap at the Raglan Road Irish Pub in Downtown Disney's entertainment complex at Lake Buena Vista.
Oliver said the application is updated regularly thanks to fans who frequently visit the Orlando parks. Getting Apple to approve the program was surprisingly easy, he said.
"They took their time on it, I think maybe because of combining Disney and beer together. But they did approve it," Oliver said.
[ Eric Pera can be reached at eric.pera@theledger.com or 863-802-7528. ]
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