After discovering that I could in fact drink beer, as long as it had acceptably low wheat content ( <5 PPM), I not only sought to create this site, but also to leverage the fine work of others who have conducted tests as well as perform basic research. There were an increasing number of options for me, yet, even in Portland OR, I could not always locally find the beers others had tested or researched (obviously I was able to get the ones I tested locally).
Enter On-Line Beer delivery apps. This wasn’t a thing a few years back, but now there are many options to have just what you want and delivered right to your door. Here are a few to consider, not in any particular order:
1. Drizly
Drizly provides on-line delivery for beer, wine and liquor with a promise of 60 minutes form order to door. They deliver to over 100 cities in the United States and in Alberta, Canada. Just a quick peek at their website reveals an offering of 7,500 Craft beer products, including Gluten Free options and many of the beers that I have tested. See Test Outcomes page for list. Searching for Gluten Free or low gluten beer doesn’t yield much, I recommend searching by brand or specific beers, its probably in there. I searched for Glutenberg and for Old Rasputin Imperial Russian Stout (low gluten) , which were available.
The Drizly app provides an easy user-experience. Based on your location, it will tell you what services for what types of products are available. Drizly connects multiple suppliers from across your area which provides a very broad selection and allows you to compare prices as well and includes a bar-scanning feature if you want to scan the info in. This app is also frequently updated, so they are improving the experience for their users.
2. Minibar
Minibar was designed to allow subscribers to select beer, wine, and liquor and guarantees delivery in under 1-hour. The service is available in over 50 cities. More locations will be added according to the app. When you logon to the app, it asks for your delivery address, once input, it will let you know If you are within their delivery range. Also, based on your location, it will enable specific services for your location. For example, in Oregon, liquor is state controlled, so that service is disabled in the app. If you want to explore, the icon below takes you to Minibar on Amazon for the Android app. For Mac, goto the App Store and search for Minibar.
While the page on Amazon.com is outdated (states last app update was March 2016), if you look for the app in the App Store, it has fresher information, and yes, the app has been updated recently and has such more favorable reviews.
As an affiliate I need to disclose that I benefit from any purchase you make, but the App is FREE.
3. Saucey
Wins for best name. And maybe for best promise: 30 minute delivery, no delivery fees, no order minimums. Cities where you can find Saucey are limited and definitely overlap with other providers, but it claims to deliver the fastest and their app lets you track the delivery real-time as you await the arrival of your tasty brew, or whatever you are ordering. They also have a very large number of beers, thousands and using their general search feature, I was able to easily find Gluten-Free beer, using “Gluten Free” as the search criteria. I also noted a category of cider and gluten free beer. More of this, please!
4. Instacart
A more general solution is to go with Instacart, which is an on-line grocery delivery provider. They offer same day delivery for alcohol and have a wide selection of Beer. When you logon to the app, you can choose from your favorite stores where they assign a shopper to hand pick your stuff. For instance, in my area, I can choose from Safeway, QFC, New Seasons, even Costco.
A general search for Gluten Free in their beer section of the app yields the best results out of all the apps, but still general. The said, since there is such an array of stores to choose from, it was easy to find the beers I have tested (and of course many others) using this service. One feature I really like is if you choose a six pack and put it in your cart, the app checks for low inventory and suggests a potential acceptable replacement if , when the shopper gets there, they are out. You can also select your own choice of backup. Fabulous!
There is a fee for delivery, but for orders over $35USD the fee is waived with an Express subscription, meaning you pay a small monthly fee as part of a membership. Operating in both the US and Canada now, they are rapidly expanding; check to see if they are in your zip code on their site.
5. Amazon Prime
Amazon Fresh offers delivery of beer and wine as part of their grocery delivery offering. Under the “Fresh” option, you can select, among other grocery categories, Beer, Wine, or Liquor. Searching for Gluten Free beer is limited to general search, which won’t get you a targeted list. I suggest searching by the specific beer or brand you desire.
Similar to the other services, the offering is limited to certain area and subject to the same laws that might restrict what type of alcohol can be delivered. That said, many beers are available and if you have an account, its a simple task to log on and order, or use the app. They offer 1- and 2-hour windows, which range from $4.99 -$9.99 service fees, but if you are a Prime member, there is no fee.
6. Beergium
Looking outside the US for reliable delivery of quality beer? Beergium.com is a good bet. World wide delivery no less and provides discrete packaging to avoid attracting front door package-snatchers. While it isnt a same day service, you can easily order on-line and get your delivery in a few days.
7. Beers of Europe
Okay, so this also isn’t one of those quick-delivery services, but you can order on line and get delivery in a day if expedited and with over 5000 products BeersofEurope.Co.uk, has a lot to offer, including home brew kits. They source beers from like 100 countries, you can filter by country, producer, and style of beer.
8. Hello Drinks
So as not to let our Australian friends feel left out, I would be remiss to not mention HelloDrinks.com.au . This on-line store and app sells beer, wine and liquor. Their terms for delivery are roughly 24 hours. While they don’t have an overwhelming number of beers, roughly 70, in their offering, they have several brands and some of the specific beers I have tested, such as the Kona Brewing Company’s Big Wave Golden Ale, and Stella Artois.
Conclusion
There are plenty of ways you can get the beer of your choice delivered directly to your door, including non-alcoholic beer if you are doing Dry January or other month. And if they don’t deliver (same day) to your area yet, most can be shipped in a matter of days. Plus, most of these services are aggressively expanding because they want to serve you, so hang in there!
If I could wish for one feature on all of these apps, it would be tagging for Gluten-Free and low gluten beers. I’m hoping that is just a matter of time as well.
Cheers.
0 comments on “On-Line Beer Delivery Apps” Add yours →