A Washington-area resident who says they have lived in the District for more than a decade has turned longstanding frustration with the city’s scattered happy hour scene into a free app that maps more than 700 drink and food deals across D.C., Maryland and Virginia.
The app, called Boozy, was built by a developer who goes by Ali and announced the project in posts to Reddit’s r/washdc and r/nova communities, drawing a combined upvote count in the thousands and prompting dozens of feature requests and user tips.
“I’ve lived in DC for 10+ years and I swear finding a happy hour is harder than it should be,” Ali wrote in the r/washdc post. “So I spent way too many nights building a map-based app that keeps track.”
The app displays happy hours across the D.C. area on an interactive map, with deals refreshed weekly. Users can see which specials are active at any given moment, filter results by food or drinks, save favorite spots, and receive alerts before deals begin. A keyword search function, which Ali described as the feature used most personally, lets users scan the full database for specific items like martinis or oysters and see every venue currently offering that deal.
The app covers neighborhoods across the District, including Navy Yard, Georgetown, Dupont Circle, Logan Circle, Shaw, Adams Morgan and H Street, as well as suburban spots in Arlington, Alexandria and Bethesda.
Commenters praised the app and peppered Ali with feature requests. One user asked whether the app could eventually display bar events such as trivia nights or live music. Another asked about filtering by cheapest drinks, to which Ali replied that users can already search for any item and sort results by “Best value.”
The app includes a “Something off?” reporting function at the bottom of each venue’s menu page, though one commenter noted a bug that left the submission keyboard obscuring the send button. That issue appears to have since been patched.
Deals are sourced directly from restaurants and verified weekly. Users can flag inaccuracies, including by submitting a photo with their report.
When a commenter asked why the venture was registered as a Wyoming LLC, Ali cited the state’s low formation costs, privacy protections and lack of state income tax, calling Wyoming “awesome for small businesses.”
Ali said the app is a personal project and will remain free. An optional paid membership is available for an ad-free experience, priced at $1.99 per month or $12.99 annually.
The app is available for iOS and Android.
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