Tap Hunter’s Melani and Jeff Gordon want to help you find good beer

As avid beer lovers, San Diegans Melani Gordon and husband Jeff wanted to keep tabs on San Diego’s burgeoning beer scene. So the couple started Tap Hunter (taphunter.com), a Web site devoted to keeping up with the ever-changing and diverse tap lists in the city’s beer bars. Launched in April of this year, the site also takes full advantage of social media, with a free iPhone app and a steady stream of Twitter updates available.

With San Diego Beer Week fast approaching, Melani took a few minutes to answer questions about the San Diego beer scene, her new company and where it’s headed.

SDNN: First things first: Can you state your name, your rank (title) and how long you’ve been with Tap Hunter?

Jeff Gordon - Founder & Chief Tap Hunter

Melani Gordon - Co-Founder & Chief Beer Strategist

The idea and concept was born in March 2009 and we launched the site April 23, 2009.

SDNN: How did the idea of Tap Hunter germinate?

We have a great craft beer community here in San Diego. We were always visiting Web sites, following Twitter feeds, subscribing to e-mail update newsletters, etc. Jeff finally decided we were spending too much time keeping up with everything that was going on and started brainstorming the site. It began as a personal project to fill his need but I quickly began to realize that it could serve a real purpose for others just like us. My husband and I bounced ideas for the Web site off each other and soon after we had a site.

SDNN: Where is Tap Hunter right now in its evolution and where do you see it going down the road?

It really works a number of different ways: a location will keep their list updated on their Web site; or we’ll work with a location to give them access to edit their tap list directly in our system, we’ve built a pretty cool management console for locations; or we work with the Web site users to keep the list updated.

We’ll be expanding into other markets that have thriving craft beer communities. We just launched in Seattle last week. Next are Denver, Austin and San Francisco.

More: First annual San Diego Beer Week takes over taps countywide | Bottoms Up: 8 great San Diego microbrews | San Diego brewers take on big boys | More Food & Drink stories

We launched the Tap Hunter iPhone app in September and have had a great response and lots of feedback for version 2.

We are finishing up some amazing user-centric enhancements. It will be heavily focused on rewarding Tap Hunter users for their activity on the Web site. They’ll be ranked on a point system and graduate to receiving higher levels of access to the site. Currently, we have a handful of beta users. They have access to add beers on tap, update and add further beer detail.

SDNN: How does Taphunter compare with other sites/iPhone apps out there nationally and locally?

There are handfuls of sites across the nation that appear to be hobby projects. They provide great reviews and beer locations. However, Tap Hunter is truly the one source were we tell you what beer is actually on tap at a specific craft beer bar or pub.

SDNN: Men’s Journal just rated San Diego an America’s best beer town. As someone involved with the local beer scene, what’s your take on how San Diego stacks up versus other beer towns in the U.S.?

I don’t know that San Diego is necessarily unique. I think what’s really unique is the passion that the craft beer community has as a whole. It’s an amazing and diverse group of people. I really see San Diego as a concentration of those craft beer brewers and fans, just like many other cities; Portland, San Francisco, Philadelphia, Austin, etc! Now, I’m not impartial, so I do think San Diego has some of the best breweries in the US; and being a hop head there’s really not a better place than California.

SDNN: With San Diego Beer Week fast approaching, what are some of the events that top your list for the sprawling festival?

We are excited to be covering a couple of special events via video and volunteering for our chosen charity Room to Read.

http://sandiego.taphunter.com/giving-back/

Top of the list:

Nov. 6 – The 6^th Annual San Diego Brewers Guild Festival.

http://sdbw.org/events/2009-11-06/6th-annual-san-diego-brewers-guild-festival-2009/

Nov. 11 - BBQ and Beer Fest at Phil’s BBQ. We are excited to have Phil’s invite Room to Read to their weeklong fest to educate the public about Room to Read. We are apart of the San Diego chapter leaders.

http://sdbw.org/events/2009-11-11/bbq–beer-fest-ft-alpine–coronado/

Nov. 15 - Chef Celebration of San Diego Beers. The collaboration between San Diego’s brewery owners, restaurants and top chefs absolutely is what some are calling the “craft beer renaissance” era. Very exciting.

http://sdbw.org/events/2009-11-15/chef-celebration-of-san-diego-beers/

Chris Nixon is a home brewer and a member of San Diego home brewer’s club QUAFF. He also works at SDNN as music editor and senior content producer. He can be reached at chris.nixon(at)sdnn.com. Follow him on Twitter.

Tags: Chris Nixon, Jeff Gordon, Melani Gordon, San Diego beer scene, San Diego Beer Week, SDBW09, SDNN, Tap Hunter, taphunter.com

This entry was posted on Monday, November 2nd, 2009 at 12:21 pm and is filed under Food, Nightlife. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.