Grogalizer is back!

On 2004-11-16 12:21, Swanky wrote:
In the mean time, maybe HumuHumu can send the SQL query to me and I'll get it done. I'd be happy to show her my database. :wink:

Ooh, you really know how to get a girl hot & bothered, Swanky. :wink: I'd be happy to lend a hand with the SQL, go ahead and send the table descriptions to me via email and I'll see what I can come up with.

On 2004-11-16 11:41, Slacks Ferret wrote:
I didn't see it on there last night (and I just picked up a bottle)

Slacks! Where oh where did you find falernum in Canada?! I've been looking with no success!

I also agree that being able to find recipes based on one ingredient would be a great addition.

I worked for a couple of hours to get the new feature working. I am getting close, but ran out of time today. I think I'll have it all going when I get at it next time. I am just a little syntax away from it being complete!

Okay, I think it works now. Give it a try and let me know.

After you check your items in your bar, you'll see a "Special Search" button at the top where you can then pick any single item and see what you can make with your bar ingredients and that item in them.

I have found that my votes are fouled up some how. I had 3 votes for the Mai Tai that averaged to a 9, but there was a 6 in there instead. I will have to revisit the Grading.

Enjoy!

Okay, I made a program to recalculate the votes and do the drink grades should be correct now.

Very cool!
I've created an Excel spreadsheet that contains all of the recipes, and has similar functionality. I have a seperate page of "inventory" of the ingredients I have on hand (there's also a page with all possible ingredients listed). The spreadsheet then indicates all the possible drinks that I can make with my current inventory. Also, I can reference a particular drink, and it lists what ingredients I would need to get in order to make the drink- really helps when I am creating a shopping list. It's still kind of a work in progress, I'm trying to make the interface a little more sophisticated, and I have loaded all of the recipes form Grog Log, but still have a few more from Intoxica to load.

I have been wanting to share this with others, but haven't wanted to provide a free copy of the recipes and hurt book sales, so this is the perfect solution.

You know Swank, I just started using the Grogalizer about a week ago and I hafta say...

...it's flipping great.

You have done a great service to both Berry and his fans.

I'm sure in time I'll be unable to live without it.

Thank you,

Ahu

Made a few changes. I voted and noticed it came up wrong and before you know it, I had ast here an hour or two and made changes.

First - I think I have the votes correct now.
Second - When you get your list of recipes you can make, it shows all the comments there rather than you clicking on "VIEW" to see them.
Third - On the first screen where you select your items, I have a few stats on the Grogalizer. How many users, votes and comments.

For the future: A "forgot your password?" button...

When you see Mr. Barry, remind him to add a link in the next volume to my site...

Here's a tip on getting more out of the Grogalizer. This is how I use it.

Every drink I have made, I rate it. Since you can only vote once, the voting option will disappear for all the drinks you have already tried. So you can scan down the list and see what you have yet to try.

This is how I spend my dull, dull life. I get off work, go to the Grogalizer and find the next drink in line that I can make that I have never tried. I then give it a grade and maybe try another new recipe. One or three a night...

Tonight I am revisiting Planet of the Apes. I have made it before, but failed to write my grade for it in my Grog Log, so I made it again.

So I hope you will all do this and that way we will get a lot more votes and comments on the Grogalizer, AND, more of us will work our way through the Grog Log and Intoxica and earn our tiki merit badges!

Speaking of Tiki Merit Badges. If you look in the BSA Supply catalog, there's a couple of patches that could damn well pass for Tiki Merit Badges. I'm just sayin. ALoha!

Hey Swanky, I just tried the Grogalizer and the voting is still off. I gave a vote of "10" on one drink and the average actually went down. I voted on six drinks and only on two of them did the new average look fairly correct.

This looks like a very useful tool! I will hold off on voting more until the system is working better.

Kono,
I noticed the same thing. Fell free to vote. The numbers are being stored correctly, but the average isn't. I can run a program to fix them. I didn't have time to find the software issue last night. It did it to me too.

Go ahead and vote and I will fix it soon for good and do the work around tonight again. Keep using it and and adding to the voting and comments!

Voting is fixed. The issue, if you really care, was when there were no votes and you cast the first one, it was dividing it in half.

I am wanting to add some sort of stats. Keep track of how often it's being used and by whom. May work on that now.

Forgive all the posting.

I added a login count. Now, once you get to the screen where you select ingredients, you'll notice at the top it will tell you how many times it was used today and who the last user was.

Maybe later I'll make a graph out of the info or something. This will help me figure out who often people are actually using it. Now I need that "Forgot your password?" thing to email it ot you...

bumping this up.

I added a report log to Grogalizer to see how many people are actually using it. I know it's indespensable to me, but is anyone else using it. Answer, not many.

For example. We were asked to come up with recipes for a Luau bridal shower. Went to the Grog Log and selected all the rums (except Demarara) and the common juices and mixers adn got a list. Looked at votes and picked the top three. Simplicity!

So, in Februaury, when I was posting here on my updates, there were a good many users. March, maybe half. April, so far, maybe 1. I am guessing people are forgetting about this great tool I have foisted upon the Tiki drinking public.

It's Spring, and serious tiki event time. Use it, book mark it and get Beachbum to put a link to it in his next book...

http://www.swankpad.org/drinks/Grogalizer/grogalizer.htm

As spring and summer nears I know I for one will be using it far more often.
I'm alone in the house at the moment, and don't usually drink by myself(unless I'm on Shout! of course).

Damn! Just what I wanted to do on my only wahine free Friday night in ages, fix the freaking Grogalizer! Well, hey, that's life.

So, somehow the votes got hosed up. I had a 1 CHAR field to hold votes, so 10 got truncated to 1. So then I had to figure out who meant 1 and who meant 10. I guessed a bit, but hey, it's my world!

Anyway... Votes have been retabulated and things are okay again. I have added more stats in there when you log in so you see the top drinks and your stats and stuff like that.

My eyes hurt! 12 hours on my ass in front of a computer! I need a drink and some relaxin'. Hmmm, let's check The Damned Near New and Improved Grogalizer! and see what I can make that I never tried before... That Demarara Float sounds good...

Check the webcam at the top of the page http://www.SwankPad.org and see me enjoying that drink in the bar tonight...

The Swank Pad Broadcast - If it's Swank...

[ Edited by: swanky 2005-08-12 18:11 ]

Hey Swanky - Thanks for putting this together. I signed up about a month ago and have used it to figure what I can make with my ever changing inventory.

I have one request though. Could you add a solid background color to the table cells in the ingredients listing and the drink listing? Its tough to read the black text against the background image - especially after a couple of Zombies.

Thanks again man for the most killer app!

Hmmm. Actually the text is white. Not sure why it's black for you. PM me what browser you are using.

I'm having the same problem - really hard to read black text on the background. I'm using Netscape 7.2

Thanks to johnman, the black text should be fixed now. Let me know if it's not.

A minor upgrade on the Grogalizer. I wrote the code for Hukilau a couple of years ago and tonight put it on the Grogalizer site so that it will email you your password if you forget it. So, if you have not logged in and used it in a while because of that, you can do so now...

Updated the database to contain the recipes from Taboo Table now. Corrected a problem with the stats. A few new things.

I was wondering if you would like to see everyone's voting record on the drinks? It would be pretty easy to show how each person voted. This could give you some more insight. Rather than just an average, you could see that the sour-hater Swanky gave it a 3, but the tart-liker Pablus gave it a 10 and you might have a better notion about how you would react to the drink.

Lots of new people using the Grogalizer and adding good comments. Most recipes have votes and comments which is great. I made this tool for myself and everyone's input has really made it fantastic.

My next major update to the site will be to add full recipes from some other vintage tropical cocktail books. As more people plow through The Bum's books looking for things to try, they have new options that way.

I also need to make it so that you can update your email address, etc. Soon...

Swanky--still unable to comment lately except for very SHORT comments. (?) Am I on a word limit?

I'm OK with the anonymous voting. You get to know who likes what from the comments.

Nah. 255 character limit for everyone. I'll experiment with it and see if I see the problem.

I don't mind open voting.
Is there a way to edit your votes, btw?

Thanks
Ran

I'm glad you bumped this topic Swanky (and sent emails out to the registered users) because I have been a little more active in voting lately.

Open voting is fine by me.

On 2006-11-27 13:29, kick_the_reverb wrote:
I don't mind open voting.
Is there a way to edit your votes, btw?

Thanks
Ran

Not at this time. I don't think there will ever be either. If you make a mistake, email me and I'll fix it. I think it's best to take your vote as is, although, I have very definitely made a drink a second time and found I liked it a lot more than my initial vote. And sometimes a lot less.

I talked to The Bum at Hukilau and he said they may be moving to Asheville, NC soon which is just an hour away. I hope that means I'll get to spend some quality time with the guy mixing and tasting. BK and I got crazy in the bar when he was here. He may be moving this way in a year or so. That would prehaps mean a lot of drinks coming out of Knoxville. He has a few original recipes. We were inspired. We have spent lots of time together, but never started mixing new stuff before. Big fun. If we could perfect the taste we mixed at first into a bigger batch, it would rock!

The only problem with open voting is that one may be influenced by how others voted.

I'm having a bit of trouble leaving comments. It worked for me once, but the last two I entered didn't show up.

On 2006-12-02 18:23, thejab wrote:
I'm having a bit of trouble leaving comments. It worked for me once, but the last two I entered didn't show up.

What browser are you and pappy using? I bet it's something Firefox broke.

On 2006-12-02 20:59, Swanky wrote:

On 2006-12-02 18:23, thejab wrote:
I'm having a bit of trouble leaving comments. It worked for me once, but the last two I entered didn't show up.

What browser are you and pappy using? I bet it's something Firefox broke.

Firefox on Mac OS X Tiger

Yeah, probably Firefox too.

I am bumping this up for those who may not be aware. New arrivals to TC and new arrivals to the world of drink mixing.

The Grogalizer

It's an online tool for working your way through the books by Beachbum Berry. Enter the ingredients you have in your bar and it will tell you which recipes you can make. After you make the drink, give it a grade and add your comments. You can do a "Special Search" on a single ingredient and it will show only recipes you can make that include that ingredient.

If you vote on every drink you make, it is a handy way to keep up with which recipes you have and have not tried. If you have not voted on it, you have not made it. That's how I use it mostly. I can keep working my way through the recipes until I try them all.

The other nice thing is loking at the votes and deciding what to serve tonight's guests based on what you can make that has the best rating by the all the users. I use it that way a lot too.

I made the Grogalizer for myself. It is something I wished existed. I would open the Grog Log and look and look for a drink I could make. The Grogalizer made it a simple task of a few seconds to see which recipes I could make that night.

So, if you aren't using it, or you haven't in a while, check it out. The more votes and comments we get, the better it works for all of us.

Oh, and I added some extra stats at the top of the ingredient list page...

New updates. I have added an option to show the recipes in order of their average grade rather than in order by book and page number. If you want to see the "best" drinks first, this is your option.

I added it because I often am making drinks for guests and I want to make something that is popular among the makers rather than making just anything. This helps me pick a drink a little faster.

There is also a link at the top of the recipe list that shows the drinks you have voted on in order of your top to bottom favorites. This is a complete list and not based on what's in your bar.

I also reformatted a little bit to try to make more room for the comments so they are less smushed.

If you use the Grogalizer in some way that I don't and you think it could be tweaked to meet your needs, let me know.

Last night I packed away the bar for the move. 6 boxes of booze and mixers, not including the juices I have stock piled. This means no mixing for me for a while. Maybe a long while. There is no plan right now to set up the bar. I will get to it when I can. So, my mixing days are over for probably a month or so. All tiki decor is going into storage. There is a grand plan for a grand new home bar, but that is not a priority right now. Well, it is a priority, but it is not somethign we will be tackling soon. Lots of renovation needs to be done to the space and then a plan made and measurements taken and an order placed with Oceanic Arts for bamboo, thatch and matting, etc. I'll then send the Bam signal to Huntington Beach and make a call to Ben. He will laugh in my ear and I will get to work my own damn self...

In the meantime, mix something new, you've never tried, and toast me. I'll try to absorb it through the ether.

What a great idea for a website. I just tried it out and apparently my liquor cabinet is woefully lacking... I got no returns. :(

I do have a suggestion, though - some links back to the user's settings/liquor list on each page would be nice, as would a link back to the user's available drink list.

Nice work, Swanky! Must have been a lot of data entry to get all this into a database!

A couple ideas that I had for the Grogalizer...

1. Listing recipes where you are missing 1 ingredient, or 2. It would be nice to know that I can't make a Mai Tai just because I'm missing Orange Curacao. If that were the case then I'd run out and get some Orange Curacao, or even break down and use some of my Blue Curacao.

2. Listing drinks that require a particular ingredient. It could clear up "problems" when I have Gold Jamaican Rum, but not Amber Rum. Well, the above would do that too. A better example might be if I was debating buying a bottle of Maraschino liqueur. If 2 recipes used Maraschino then I might not buy it, but if 15 recipes listed it then I certainly would!

On 2007-02-28 08:45, Kilty McTiki wrote:
What a great idea for a website. I just tried it out and apparently my liquor cabinet is woefully lacking... I got no returns. :(

I do have a suggestion, though - some links back to the user's settings/liquor list on each page would be nice, as would a link back to the user's available drink list.

Nice work, Swanky! Must have been a lot of data entry to get all this into a database!

If you get falernum, orgeat, curacao, simple syrup, lime and lemon juice and rum in your bar, you are set. A majority of what is needed to really get started comes down to a few juices and simple mixers. You can get all the specific rums if you want, but I honestly don't quibble over whether it is a light Puerto Rican rum or from some other country. I know I may not have the recipe 100% by making some rum substitutions, but, a Barbencourt 5 Star rum is not going to make the drink so completely different than making it with a different rum that I can't get an idea of what the drink is like. If that all makes sense.

Add a few juices to your bar, click all the rums and make some decisions about substituting. GO back and click orgeat or falernum and see what comes up then. It seems daunting at first, but many recipes hinge on just a few simple ingredients, or a couple of not so simple ones that you can get once and make 10-30 recipes with that bottle.

I suppose I could add links to a few ingredients that take you to an online store to buy them...

Thanks for the tips. That certainly did the trick.

I like the links out to buy things like Orgeat, too... nice job!

Okay, I added links for Orgeat and Falernum, which are the two most common ingredients that are often hard to find. I added a link for Lemon Hart 151, but I understand the stuff is just not out there any more. If anyone has a good source online for it, let me know. I have a bottle or two on hand myself. If Lemon Hart 151 is not being imported, we have a crisis on our hands! I suppose Wray and Nephew Overproof will perhaps substitute, but not really... Barcardi 151, never!

Swank Blather- Talkin' atcha

[ Edited by: Swanky 2007-02-28 09:31 ]

Typos! There have been various reportings of being unable to add comments to the Grogalizer. I encountered the problem myself last night and my good old hosting provider found the problem. Hopefully, this will fix it for all browsers.

I wondered why comments had fallen off while usage had been normal to high. Maybe no one's comments were being stored!

So, check back and if you can, make sure your previous comments are there. I know that's near impossible, but, maybe you can.

And let me know if it works or not...

On 2007-02-28 09:30, Swanky wrote:
Okay, I added links for Orgeat and Falernum, which are the two most common ingredients that are often hard to find. I added a link for Lemon Hart 151, but I understand the stuff is just not out there any more. If anyone has a good source online for it, let me know. I have a bottle or two on hand myself. If Lemon Hart 151 is not being imported, we have a crisis on our hands! I suppose Wray and Nephew Overproof will perhaps substitute, but not really... Barcardi 151, never!

---

Swank Blather- Talkin' atcha

[ Edited by: Swanky 2007-02-28 09:31 ]

Did you ever find more Lemon Hart 151? HiTime still has it. They won't ship out of CA though. But as far as I know, it is still imported.

I have a good supply of the 151. I am down to my final bottle of the regular strength. I'll look into GatroRob's source when I get ready to order again this summer. I just unpacked my bar, and now I know what I have and don't have. Glad to see I have a spare bottle of TV Passion Fruit Syrup as The Bum says they have changed the recipe far for the worse.

In celebration, I made 3 new recipes from the books last night. Nice to be crossing them off the list again.

On 2007-04-23 12:28, Swanky wrote:
I have a spare bottle of TV Passion Fruit Syrup as The Bum says they have changed the recipe far for the worse.

Really? Damn. I just got a bottle of TV yesterday and was stoked. When was the change? any elaboration?

On 2007-04-23 14:13, Mytah wrote:

On 2007-04-23 12:28, Swanky wrote:
I have a spare bottle of TV Passion Fruit Syrup as The Bum says they have changed the recipe far for the worse.

Really? Damn. I just got a bottle of TV yesterday and was stoked. When was the change? any elaboration?

From what he said, they no longer make it with natural ingredients and it is more akin to kool aid now. I have not had any myself.

On 2007-04-24 06:37, Swanky wrote:
From what he said, they no longer make it with natural ingredients and it is more akin to kool aid now.

What the... huh? WHAT?!? I'VE ONLY GOT ONE BOTTLE LEFT!!!

On 2007-04-24 16:53, GatorRob wrote:
What the... huh? WHAT?!? I'VE ONLY GOT ONE BOTTLE LEFT!!!

While you still have that bottle, how about trying to make some homemade until you get a similar taste?

Some previous attempts at home-made passion fruit syrup are here: http://www.tikicentral.com/viewtopic.php?topic=19410&forum=10&27

I'm sure that a bunch of us would appreciate your efforts!

I hate to compwain Mr. Swanky but even with IE 7, I can't leave a ten-word comment in da Grogalyzer. On the plus side, I can go back to Firefox.