1. Specification (The Style Within a Category)
The category tells you what a drink is; the specification tells you which style of it. Every category has its own vocabulary, and the same word can mean something entirely different elsewhere. A drink can carry more than one specification, such as Scotch and Single Malt.
Whisky
Single Malt comes from one distillery and malted barley only. Blended Malt marries single malts from several distilleries; Blended adds grain whisky.
Cognac
Age grades by the youngest eau-de-vie: VS at least two years, VSOP four, XO ten.
Tequila
Time in oak: Blanco unaged, Reposado two months or more, Añejo one year, Extra Añejo three.
When the Rules Differ, the EU Decides
Countries define their spirits differently. We follow the EU rules for spirit drinks (Regulation (EU) 2019/787): when a case is unclear, or when the country of origin allows something the EU does not, the EU name sets the category. A drink that meets no EU category is a spirit drink. In the EU, whisky is at least 40%, aged at least three years and never flavoured, and rum is never flavoured either.
That is why Jameson Orange (Irish whiskey with orange flavour, 30%) and spiced rum are listed as a spirit drink, with their base spirit as specification, such as Whisky-Based. Bourbon, rye and Tennessee whiskey meet the EU whisky rules and stay whisky. Flavoured gin and flavoured vodka are allowed in the EU and keep their category.
2. Release Type (Rarity & Availability)
The release type places a bottle in the portfolio. A core range expression is built for consistency; a single cask is a snapshot that will never return. Knowing which one you hold changes how to read its reviews.
Core Range
The permanent portfolio, made to the same profile year after year.
Limited Release
A fixed number of bottles, often numbered, released once or annually.
Seasonal
Tied to a season or holiday and released on a recurring calendar.
Vintage
Distilled or harvested in one stated year.
Single Cask
Bottled from one individual cask, so every release is unique.
Market / Venue Exclusive
Available in one country, retailer or venue only.
Travel Retail Exclusive
Made for airport and travel retail channels.
Experimental
A one-off trial of a new cask, grain or technique.
Collaborative Release
Created together with another producer, artist or brand.
Discontinued
No longer produced. Shown as a flag in Explore.
3. Strength (ABV & Distillery Notes)
We store strength as alcohol by volume, converting US proof where needed. Some drinks are bottled at a different strength per market; we then mark the ABV as variable and show it with a tilde.
How It Appears
Anything that does not fit a field, such as a bottling year or a distillery remark, is kept as a short distillery note on the drink page.
4. Data Quality (How We Keep It Clean)
Labels, spec sheets and producer pages all speak their own dialect. Our engine reads them and translates every term into one shared vocabulary before it reaches a drink page.
Extract
AI reads the source text and fills each field, following a strict data dictionary.
Canonicalise
Synonyms collapse into one term: "PX", "PX Cask" and "Pedro Ximenez Sherry" all become Pedro Ximénez.
Review
Anything outside our vocabulary is set aside and the drink is flagged for a human check, instead of being stored as fact.
5. How We Use It
In Explore
Specification, strength and distillery notes give context on every drink page. Discontinued bottles are flagged, so you know when a profile describes a drink you can no longer find.
In AI Insights
Insights segment the market by cask, production and maturation rather than by label terms. Specification and release type help us describe the drinks behind an insight, not to select them.
Deep Dives & Expert Resources
BNIC: Cognac
The official Cognac interprofession on age statements and crus.
CRT: Consejo Regulador del Tequila
The regulator behind the Blanco, Reposado and Añejo categories.
Scotch Whisky Association
The legal definitions of Single Malt, Blended Malt and Blended Scotch.
EUR-Lex: Regulation (EU) 2019/787
The EU rules for spirit drinks: every category, its minimum strength and what it may contain.