Spirits editorial policy
The complete public policy behind publication labels, comparison boundaries, bottle jobs, dated price context, corrections, and commercial independence.
Complete policy
This policy expands the concise methodology summary on the Spirits hub without changing any Spirit route's publication status.
Ranked means a complete bottle order is public. A Guide is published educational coverage of a category and its service cues, without an ordered bottle list. In review pages provide category context only; they do not present bottle guidance as reviewed. Field notes are draft orientation and do not claim bottle picks, tasting judgments, prices, ratings, availability, or product order.
A global ranking uses one ordered list within one spirit category. An expression ranking compares bottles only inside a named expression, not across unlike styles. When a Tequila guide is marked Ranked, Blanco, Reposado, and Añejo are three independent lists that each restart at 1; there is no implied 1–30 order and extra aging is not an automatic upgrade.
Lanes describe the bottle's primary job. They make unlike needs easier to compare, but they do not create a second ranking or change the published order.
Bottle-specific tasting direction appears only after the wording and comparison context have been editorially checked; sourced category context is not presented as firsthand tasting. Before a ranked guide is published or materially updated, we check the exact expression, proof, and package size, and compare credible retail observations where possible. Displayed price ranges are dated editorial snapshots, never live offers, inventory, or guarantees.
Prices checked tells you when price observations were gathered. Page updated tells you when the public editorial page changed. One date never substitutes for the other.
We recheck a page when meaningful bottle, proof, formula, package, price, or availability context changes. When a verifiable error changes the public guidance, we correct the copy and update the visible page date; if the support is no longer sufficient, the page can return to In review rather than keep an unsupported order live.
Public corrections intake is currently paused. When it reopens, include the page URL, the disputed detail, and the corrected information or source. Read the current corrections notice for the latest intake status.
A retailer or affiliate link cannot buy inclusion, a lane, or a place in an order. A guide does not need a commercial link, and adding or removing one does not change its editorial status. Any such link is disclosed when it appears.
We publish the reader-verifiable reasoning: ranking scope, lane, tasting direction, intended use, tradeoffs, and dated price context. Private scores and weights can imply precision the final guidance does not support; source IDs and gate logs are internal audit references, not useful reader evidence. Those records stay nonpublic so opaque identifiers and intermediate checks are not mistaken for the final editorial case.