If you have ever wanted to visit the more than 130 craft breweries in Ohio, next month, there will be an app for that.

Regional ale trails, craft-beer bar hops and word of mouth help promote local suds, but the Ohio Craft Brewers Association wanted one source to make beer-hunting as efficient as possible.

A mobile app, Ohio on Tap, will put the latest information about every craft brewery with a tasting room at smartphone users' fingertips.

"We've got Ohio on Tap magazine, which is a great resource, but as fast as things are growing, the magazine is out of date by the time it goes on the racks," said Justin Hemminger, spokesman for the Ohio Craft Brewers Association.

"The app will very rarely be out of date."

The app will be able to tell a user what local breweries are within a given distance and exactly where they are. It can even plot out a trip to several destinations.

"It will help drive people to local breweries," Hemminger said. "We really think this is a good tool not only for exploring the breweries in large city centers, but also the ones popping up in rural areas."

For example, beer-minded road trippers could use the app to map out a trip to breweries along the Ohio River or maybe along Route 127 through western Ohio.

Like the Columbus Ale Trail, which has been around for a few years in central Ohio, anything that showcases local beers gets a thumbs-up from brewers.

"I think it will bring in a lot of customers," Fred Lee said of the app. He owns Actual Brewing Co., which is in a hard-to-find industrial park near John Glenn Columbus International Airport. "It is inevitable that this would come out, and I like it."

Beer tourism is not a small thing, Lee said.

"People today want to connect to products, all kind of products. They want to see where they are made," he said. "And one of the best products in the world is beer."

The app launches both for Apple and Android devices on May 12, to coincide with the start of Columbus Craft Beer Week. It also will create a statewide beer trail, which will use GPS technology to "stamp" a user's virtual passport within the app. The association will give away an enthusiast membership, worth $65, plus a growler to anyone who visits every brewery in a 12-month period.

The flexibility of a mobile app lets members propose changes and flag ideas to benefit every member, Hemminger said, giving rural brewers parity with big urban ones.

Lee, from Actual Brewing, already has one suggestion.

"I hope the list is in alphabetical order," he said.

jmalone@dispatch.com

@j_d_malone