The site says the beer-to-cocktails switch threw your pacing off. Was there one specific night where you felt it — where the count said you were fine and your body disagreed?
I was a long-time craft beer guy, and I had my pace dialed in for sessions, for IPAs, for doubles, for triples. About a year ago, while wishing to lose weight, I started taking GLP-1s. In addition to weight loss, which definitely nerfed my ability to absorb alcohol, my tastes changed drastically, and I no longer liked drinking beer. So I decided to transition from the annoying craft beer guy to the annoying craft cocktail douche. I was a natural at being an irritating cocktail snob, but I struggled to drink a negroni at a sustainable pace. I was drinking cocktails as if they were beer, and they were kicking my ass. I realized that my beer drinking internal clock wouldn't work for cocktails.
Why 230 cocktails at real ABVs, rather than letting people type in a number?
The negroni is my go-to drink, so over time I developed a pacing rhythm for it. The challenge is that cocktails have a nearly unlimited range of ABV. Compare, say, a negroni to a painkiller, to a Last Word, to a Naked and Famous. You've got a huge range! Even within a single cocktail, you can have 10% or more of a swing depending on the choice of gin, etc.
What's the most striking concrete example of drinks getting stronger?
Even on the beer and seltzer side, it's getting harder and harder to pace yourself. The brewers have gotten so good at making double and even triple IPAs so balanced and smooth, they drink like 6.5% beers. The hard seltzers and vodka ades, etc are so drinkable that they can really throw one's instrumentation off. The deck is stacked against us!
Why a glass that drains, instead of a number or a meter?
I thought a glass that drains would be the most natural way to gauge your pace. You look at the glass on your phone or watch, compare it to the one in your hand, you instantly know where you are.
I spent a ton of time on the artwork, matching glasses with the drinks. The cocktail colors are actually computed from the colors of the ingredients themselves. More about that in a future blog post! That's another blog post about DrinkML.
Pound has no streaks, no scores, no badges — unusual for a health app. Decision or instinct?
Gamification of drinking is something I wanted to avoid. It's a fine line between drink pacing app and competitive drinking app!
What would you say to someone who reads "drink pacing app" and assumes it's a sobriety tool?
Pound is for people who enjoy drinking, but want to be intentional and mindful about it. I love discovering new cocktails and recipes. I love talking to people about craft beer and the craft brewery scene. This app isn't a scold, it's not designed to make you feel like shit about yourself. Pound is about you having a good time tonight, but feeling good in the morning too. It externalizes that clock so you can be free to live in the moment and savor the drink.
What does a good night with Pound actually look like?
A good night with Pound? I'm having one right now. Negroni in hand, watching a football game and writing a blog post. I know I'll get a good night's sleep. I know I won't wake up with a hangover. I know I won't impulse buy anything from Amazon. And I know I'll remember this experience in the morning as a really positive one.