Beta
Bar Snap
A visual drink discovery platform helping people explore bars, cocktails and drink recipes.
The story
Bar Snap is a visual drink discovery platform. Browse cocktails and recipes, explore bars, and match drinks to ingredients you already have.
The problem. Drink discovery is fragmented across social feeds, bar menus, and recipe blogs. Users want a fast, visual way to explore what they can make or order.
The solution. A polished mobile app and web experience with rich imagery, structured recipe data, ingredient matching, and AI-assisted content workflows.
Screenshots
How it’s built
Key features
- Visual recipe browsing with ingredient filters
- Bar and venue discovery
- Ingredient-based drink matching
- User accounts and saved favorites
- Admin tooling for content review
Architecture
Clients
- Kotlin Android app
- Marketing + product web
API
- Node.js + MongoDB
- Gemini-assisted content workflows
Media
- Google Cloud Storage
- Image-optimized recipe catalog
Technology
- Kotlin Android client
- Node.js API with MongoDB
- Gemini for content assistance
- Google Cloud for media and infrastructure
Behind the build
Challenges solved
- Presenting dense recipe data without overwhelming mobile screens
- Keeping image-heavy listings fast on variable networks
- Building moderation tools that keep quality high at scale
Lessons learned
- Visual discovery needs restraint. Fewer, better images beat endless scroll.
- Ingredient matching is a retention hook; search alone wasn’t enough.
- Admin review queues had to ship with the beta, not after it.
Future roadmap
- Expanded regional bar partnerships
- Social sharing and curated collections
- Deeper personalization based on taste profiles