On May 31, Microsoft made available the next milestone in their development of Windows 8 – the Windows 8 Release Preview. I have it installed and running on two laptops and while my colleague Abhishek Baxi has covered some topics about the operating system itself, I look at one of the most beautiful apps in the Windows Store at the moment, Cocktail Flow.
Windows Phone users will recognize the name, since it was one of the first apps available on the platform and it is one which truly utilizes the Metro design philosophies. Since the launch of this app on Windows Phone, the creators of this app, Team Distinction have released versions for iPhone, Android and Android tablets.
In case you are not familiar with the app, it is designed to help you make cocktails. It provides the capability to search by base or mixer drink, by type (cocktail, shooter, etc.) and also by a combination of what you have “in your cabinet”. While the concept of a bartender-style app is not new, the way it has been designed makes the app simply beautiful to look at and a pleasure to use. What follows is a screenshot tour of the various features of their latest version, that for Windows 8.
Once you open the app, you are brought to a beautiful panorama of selections you can make to look for information about cocktails. You can see drinks by kind of drinks, by color, by type of drinks, etc.
Main screen
Main screen with more selections
Once you click through one of those selections, you are brought to a list of drinks. You can swipe across to see more drinks.
Whiskey-based drinks
Vodka-based drinks
Green-colored drinks
Shooters
If you want to see what kind of cocktails you can make with what you have, you can use the “cabinet” view which lets you mark the spirits, mixers, and liqueurs you have and it adds drinks which you can make from those selections, in the “My Bar” section.
My Bar: Choose your spirits
My Bar: Choose your mixers
My Bar: More mixers
My Bar: Liqueurs
My Bar: Cocktails which you can make
See the next page for cocktail details screen, adding as a favorite, pinning to Start Screen, etc.
When you select a cocktail, you are brought to the cocktail details page which shows the ingredients needed for the cocktail, a beautiful image of the cocktail and its components, and of course, the cocktail preparation. In addition, the details screen also shows cocktails which are similar to the one you are looking at. Right-clicking (or swiping up from the bottom edge) brings up the application bar, which in a cocktail detail screen allows you to add the cocktail as a favorite and/or pin it to the Start Screen.
Cocktail details
Add cocktail to favorites, Pin to Start Screen
Another cocktail details page
Cocktails similar to selected cocktail
Other features of the app include introduction to the app, and cool educational content like details of barware, information about garnishes and measurements, etc.
Introduction and general information
Barware details
Garnishes
Finally, here’s a look at how the pinned cocktails look like on the Start Screen.
Cocktail Flow was one of the apps I used to show off Metro design when my Windows Phone was new, and I am sure it will be a Windows Store highlight too. Team Distinction have a track record of extremely well-designed apps which also perform very well and Cocktail Flow for Windows 8 is yet another example.
If you are running Windows 8 Release Preview, go ahead and get the app from here.
