Happy Hour. One of my favorite pastimes. The promise of cheap drinks and finger food as a reward for good time management.  The term Happy Hour originated with the Navy to describe a get together where sailors and their guests could expect drinking, dancing and boxing – probably in that order.  During prohibition happy hour evolved as the act of filling an empty tummy with discount booze before dinner. In modern times Happy Hour is a foundation of marketing for your local pub, club or lounge, as important as the neon beer sign and ladies night.

For the committed drinker in Seattle, running the Happy Hour circuit successfully requires fresh intel, a little local knowledge and good timing. The Stranger has built a cool iPhone app called Cocktail Compass that gives you all three.

Cocktail Compass provides crucial information for the urban, professional drinker on a budget. The app shows you Happy Hours in your area, listed by distance. Tapping the name of your happy hour of choice reveals buttons to map or call the establishment, hours of operation and menu choices to help design your plan of attack. So far it is exactly what I would expect from an app called Cocktail Compass on the iPhone. After using it for several weeks I found it solid and reliable and it got me to 3 or 4 Happy Hours. But here is where the app gets fun – Cocktail Compass shows you how much time you have left for any given happy hour in your vicinity. A Countdown! I feel like Jason Bourne of drinkers.

With Cocktail Compass on my iPhone I find I like to secretly check local happy hours even when I am not planning on getting a drink. In meetings before lunch I will check the cocktail Compass just for fun. I am pleasantly surprised by how many mid-morning happy hours my city boasts.

The app also lets you save your favorite places and search for all bars in the area. Cocktail Compass helps you get home after the prices return to normal and you may have lost your bearings- tap the Cabs button and get one touch calling to Yellow or Orange Cab. Cocktail Compass is a fun and easy to use app for serious and casual drinkers alike. Download it to your iPhone so you can set the right Happy Hour course no matter where you are in town.

Cocktail Compass started in Seattle but now there are versions covering Charleston S.C., New York, Portland and Boise.