Hop GrailIdentify a beer from the can
Yes, there is an app that identifies a beer by scanning the can. Hop Grail reads the barcode or the label and finds the beer across Hop Grail: US label approvals (every beer sold across state lines needs one from the TTB before it ships; a beer sold only in its home state may not have one), the beers breweries list on their own websites and newsletters, and, signed in, your own journal. A barcode is checked against the 2,697 barcodes we know; a label photo is read, and the brand, name and ABV on it are looked up across all of them, including the 539,695 labels filed since January 2, 1998. Open the scanner → · Free on the App Store →
Counts are read live from the register · newest filing on file November 3, 2026 · 54,246 label images · 220 brewery barcode prefixes
How the match works
The camera decodes the UPC or EAN and looks it up among the 2,697 barcodes we know and, signed in, the ones you've kept against your own journal. A hit opens the beer's page, or for your own code, your journal entry. If only the brewery's barcode prefix is known (220 prefixes on file), you get that brewery's filings to pick from.
When the barcode misses, or there isn't one, the scanner reads the words on the can: brand, beer name and ABV as printed. It ranks the label approvals and website-listed beers whose brand, name and ABV come closest (it matches the words, not the picture), lists your own close journal entries first, and shows each label approval's filed artwork beside your photo. You confirm the match; the scanner never picks for you. Label reads need a free account.
If neither finds the beer, the scanner says so; a label read also shows what it read off the can, marked as a read, for you to fix and add. Nothing is invented and no near-miss is dressed up as a hit. Filings post daily, so a can filed this week may match tomorrow; a beer sold only in its home state may never have one.
Why the label matters
A barcode lookup only works when someone already wrote the row. Taproom-only cans, one-off collaborations and small regional runs rarely have a recorded UPC, which is why scanning them in most beer apps returns nothing. The federal label filing is different: every beer sold across state lines needs one before the first can ships. Matching against that register is what lets a can with no barcode still identify.
Three ways to identify a beer, compared
| Method | What it matches against | Where it fails |
|---|---|---|
| Barcode lookup | A database of codes someone has recorded | Cans with no barcode, or one nobody logged |
| Reverse image search | The same picture appearing on the web | Beers with no photos online; near-identical series cans |
| Federal label register (Hop Grail) | The 539,695 labels on file with the TTB, which every beer sold across state lines needs | Beers whose filing hasn't posted yet, or beers sold only in their home state |
What a match gives you
The beer's page. For a label approval: brewery of record, beer name, style, ABV, the date the label cleared, and the artwork as filed. A beer from a brewery's own website or newsletter says so on its page. From the beer's page you can add it to your grails or rate it in your journal, and for a label approval ask for one email when it's first spotted. A verified barcode scan of a label approval also records the beer's first sighting in the wild for everyone hunting it.
Questions
- Is there an app that identifies a beer by scanning the can?
- Yes. Hop Grail's scanner identifies a beer from the can two ways: it reads the barcode and looks it up among the 2,697 barcodes we know, or it reads the brand, beer name and ABV printed on the label and looks them up across the beers on Hop Grail: the 539,695 labels on file with the US Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau (TTB) since January 2, 1998, the beers breweries list on their own websites and newsletters, and, when you're signed in, your own journal. It runs in the browser at hopgrail.com/scan and in the Hop Grail iOS app.
- What if the can has no barcode?
- Taproom cans, small runs and collaborations often carry no barcode, or one that no database has recorded. Hop Grail can still identify them when the beer has a US label approval, which every beer sold across state lines needs before it ships (a beer sold only in its home state may not have one), or when the brewery lists it on its own website or newsletter. The scanner reads the brand, beer name and ABV printed on the can, ranks the beers whose name and ABV come closest, and shows each approved label's artwork beside your photo so you confirm the match yourself.
- What does a match return?
- The beer's page. For a label approval that is the brewery of record, the beer name, the style, the ABV when the label states it and the date the label cleared, with the label art as filed; a beer from a brewery's own website or newsletter says so on its page. From there the beer can be saved to your grail list or rated in your journal, and a label approval can be watched for one email when it is first spotted.
- What happens when nothing matches?
- The scanner says it couldn't find the beer. A barcode miss lets you search by name or add the beer; a label read shows what it read off your can, marked as a read rather than an approved label, for you to correct and add. A label read never auto-selects a beer; it ranks candidates and you decide. A no-match is an honest answer, not a failure to display something.
- How is this different from Untappd or a reverse image search?
- Untappd matches barcodes and names against entries its users typed, so a beer nobody has logged returns nothing. A reverse image search looks for the same picture on the web. Hop Grail matches against US label approvals, where every beer sold across state lines must appear before it ships, and against the beers breweries list on their own websites and newsletters, so the beer does not have to be popular to be identified.