Challenge: The idea for Tap Hunter came to Founder Jeff Gordon, a longtime craft beer fan, as he tried to stay on top of what beer was on tap at local bars and breweries. Keeping up meant checking a variety of websites and newsletters every day. That became such a hassle that Gordon had a better idea.

Solution: The next month, the gWAVE team launched the Tap Hunter website (built on Python, Django framework and hosted on Google App Engine) to a flurry of local buzz. Since then, Tap Hunter has caught attention from a big beer company and allowed the Gordons to travel to New York City and Vancouver to cover beer events as experts. Our momentum has been so exciting.

TapHunter.com is an online service providing the quickest and easiest path for beer aficionados to find their favorite craft beers. Not only are we a craft beer search engine and iPhone app, but also focused on building a community, inspiring beer enthusiasts and supporting craft brewers.

The Tap Hunter team says It is imperative to the craft beer revolution that more consumers get introduced to it, and that will happen through sites like TapHunter.com.

Results:

• Launched April 23, 2009 in San Diego, Seattle, Vancouver, Philadelphia, Denver/Boulder and Portland. More cities rolling out soon
• September 2009 the iPhone app launched and reaches 5k+ downloads
• 3k + targeted and organic Twitter followers
• 2009 exclusive San Diego Beer Week video team
• Increased traffic by 70% from Q4 2009 to Q1 2010
• Local press via San Diego Business Journal, SDNN, Voice of San Diego and several notable lifestyle blogs
• 55% increase in traffic from Q2 to Q3 2010
• September 2010 launch the “Straight From the Tap” program for craft beer fans in San Diego
• TapHunter Facebook application in development

What’s next: Conquer 20 markets across the US and expand internationally.

The passion is growing for craft beer, brews produced in small batches using traditional methods. Sales of mass-marketed beers, though, have gone flat. In the first half of 2010, the U.S. beer market — dominated by multinationals like Anheuser-Busch InBev and MillerCoors — saw sales fall 2.7 percent by volume.

Sales of craft beers, on the other hand, increased by 9 percent.