Raise A Glass…and 1, and 2, and…2.0

December is moving along, presents are starting to appear under trees, and even places like our beloved San Diego are getting cold (can you believe it’s not even going to reach 65 degrees today?). Plane tickets are purchased, holiday parties are set, and families have made their plans of whose house is going to get wrecked this year. Egg nog milkshakes are popping out their ugly heads at burger joints, terrible red and green sweaters are being taken out of storage, and “The Christmas Story” is beginning to appear in the TV guide. So, it seems to us that it is also time to plan for another grand ol’ holiday tradition…drinking. So, get ready to drink…responsibly…with these little 2.0 gems of good cheer:

A few gems to help out with picking out something good to slurp
Cork’d is one of the original social wine reviewing sites. In true 2.0 fashion, it doesn’t do much but what it does it does well. It’s simple to use and enables easy socializing and social reviewing.

Nirvino Bringing together a multitude of wine reviews from wine “expert” reviewers as well as general wine lovers, Nirvino is a valuable resource for the wine collector and the wine amateur alike.

The nicest looking of the Wine 2.0 sites, Snooth is a snap to use. Much like Cork’d it doesn’t do that much, but it does what it does really well. Having recently raised some additional funding, it’s also safe to assume that they have a lot more in the works.

The most delicious of the online beer communities, Coastr is as slick as it is useful for those looking to discover interesting and delicious suds.

Extra Tasty is tasty indeed. Brought you by the folks behind Threadless and Naked & Angry, it inspires great cocktailing with shared cocktail recipes and general cocktailing banter. The beauty of the site is its simplicity, which is an especially good thing when you are checking it after 3 or 4 “French Kisses” (Amaretto, Irish Cream and Creme de Cacao)

A couple of gems to help spread the holiday cheer
Buy Your Friends a Drink A couple of years ago I tried to call a bar half way across the country to buy my newly engaged friend a bottle of wine to celebrate. That seemingly easy task proved to be impossible. Once again, web 2.0 saves the day.

Foamee Though I doubt it will end up solving the riddle on how to make money from the brilliantly simple app Twitter, it is both useful and fun to use while having a sudsy simple interface.

A couple of gems to make easy work of gift giving
Wine Woot So simple it’s stupid. Yet, it’s so fun and offers such great deals it’s smart to keep an eye on it and grab a few treasures to share for the holidays.

RadCru Though it lacks the swagger and sexiness of Wine Woot, it offers great deals on great little wines from great little wineries.

So, from us to you…cheers to you and yours as you head into the holidays.