Wandering a big city looking for a credible microbrewery or a selection of non-big name refreshments could be an exercise in frustration for the person who prefers pints to Pinot Noir. One person has been working on a mashup of Google Maps and the tastes of beer-drinkers to create a useful online destination.

The Beer Mapping Project seeks out the recommendations of beer aficionados in building its database. Site visitors can find breweries by looking at a US map and scrolling and zooming in and out of locations.

There are plenty of destinations to find. We were pleased to see several pushpins in Kentucky for locations of both breweries and brewpubs. Since BeerMapping is a project that started with someone from Chicago, that city’s beer establishments are well-represented on the map.

Other features on BeerMapping include the use of menus that can be toggled to show a legend of links for brewpubs/breweries on the map, and quick links to city or brewery maps in regions in the US, as well as Canada and New Zealand.

Drilling down to one of the 26 cities currently available in the city map menu reveals a more granular look at the beer sites available. The map’s legend shows different color pushpins for beer bars, beer stores, and homebrew stores along with the brewery and brewpub maps.

The reader may consider this an exercise in a more casual, "Friday" style of writing. However, the BeerMapping site demonstrates how working within a niche and building a site to meet the needs of users within that niche can take advantage of web technology to enhance the experience.

Seriously.

Hat tip to Thrillist for passing this site along in their morning mailing.