What is beer-match?

Beer Match is a visualization tool that shows beer-related data on an interactive map or chart. It pulls information from Untapped, a popular beer-rating website, and displays it in a visual way that helps you explore and understand beer trends, locations, or ratings. Think of it as a searchable, interactive dashboard for beer data rather than just browsing a list. The project works by connecting to Untapped's public API, a service that lets developers access their database of beers and user reviews. A Node.js server (the backend) fetches and processes that data, while the front end (what you see in your browser) displays it as an interactive visualization using D3, a popular charting library. Real-time updates between the server and your browser happen through WebSockets, so the map or charts can refresh without reloading the page. You'd use this if you're curious about beer data visualization, want to build a beer-discovery tool, or are learning how to connect a public API to a visual interface. For example, you might query it to see which beers are trending in your city, find highly-rated breweries on a map, or spot patterns in beer preferences across regions. It's the kind of project a developer or beer enthusiast might use as a foundation to build their own beer-discovery app or portfolio piece. The project is fairly minimal (version 0.0.1, only 3 stars), so it's more of a proof-of-concept than a polished product. Setup requires several manual steps, installing dependencies, adding your own Untapped API credentials, and compiling stylesheets, so it's aimed at people comfortable with running command-line tools rather than casual users. The README doesn't explain what the visualization actually shows or provides screenshots, so you'd need to run it yourself to see what it does.