Ah Summer - sun burns, shorts and sandals. There's still plenty of Summer left, and you know what that means. Time to throw another party! I don't know about the weather where you are, but here, it's been stifling hot out the past week or so. I guess I shouldn't complain though, it's also been beautifully sunny out. One way to beat the heat is with a cool drink. While I prefer sticking with water, lemonade or iced tea, some may opt for something stronger. You may see someone at the party attempting to make a crazy concoction. Feeling Adventurous? Yes? Feeling Tipsy?...maybe? Perhaps you should leave the drinks to a pro, Bartender Pro.

Bartender Pro is a fun application providing you with access to classic recipes, popular recipes and some that I've never even heard of; over 300 in total! You can even enter what ingredients you have and Bartender Pro will help you figure out what you can create! Maybe even a Flaming Homer perhaps? Just to be safe, why don't you hand over your car keys before taking a look at Bartender Pro?

About Bartender Pro

Version 2.03 of Bartender Pro was developed by Epic Applications, which has also created other products, including the popular Berry Wars/Drug Wars, Quick Phrases and Call Blocker. Sadly, not everyone will have a shot at using this app; it's currently available for the Bold, Tour, Curve 8900 and Storm. The application will take up 128.9KB of space.

At the main screen, you are given six options to choose from:

I'm Feeling Lucky! - After a few drinks you probably will. This option will send a random drink recipe your way.

Browse by Category - Choose your path; choose between the 202 cocktail or the 99 shooter recipes available. These are listed alphabetically.

Browse by Ingredient - As with the recipes, the ingredients are listed alphabetically. Once you choose an ingredient, Bartender Pro will search through all of the recipes and present to you which recipes contain that particular ingredient.

What Can I Make? - "I don't know the scientific explanation, but fire made it good." Not sure what to make with all the ingredients nearby. You have two options; experiment and pray you don't kill someone or enter the ingredients into Bartender Pro. This feature lets you scan through the ingredients and combines your selections into a list. Based upon your selection, the application will either present you with recipes containing all of your ingredients or recipes that contain one or more of your ingredients, but needs one more to complete it.

Add A Recipe - Chances are you have made up a drink or two in your day, or even come across one that's beautifully bizarre in your travels. Now, you can keep track of it in a nice, neat, little package. Bartender includes an easy to use recipe entry option, which will keep track of the recipes name, description, category, ingredients and measurement/quantity.

Do you think your recipes are worth sharing with the world? The Upload Your Recipes options will allow you to email all of your created recipes to Epic Applications to be potentially used in future updates of Bartender Pro. And that will be your little claim to fame.

As you can see, the drink recipes are neatly laid out in front of you for easy reading, not so easy if you've already had a few. The UI is somewhat similar to the previously reviewed Mobile Bartender, which offers most of the same features. Perhaps in future updates, we could see a favorites or groups section added, in case you wanted to plan out your "menu".

Settling the tab...
Bartender Pro should bring an interesting mix to your next party, in more ways than one. With a fair sized list of drinks, you may never get bored of having the same old thing. I was also glad to see that drinks had directions as well, so you know if you need to add flame or whether it should be shaken, not stirred. It is reasonably priced at $2.99 in the CrackBerry App Store - no free trial available. As always, please remember to drink responsibly...and try not to drop your BlackBerry in your newly created drink.

Pros

• Over 300 recipes to choose from
• Random recipe searches
• Add and upload your recipes

Cons

• Cannot save favourites for easy retrieval