Whisky Mates and the tools below were created as a way to help people learn about Whisky (or whiskey. See our FAQ page for a nice little rule of thumb on this). It's called Whisky Mates because, 1) we like drinking whisky with our friends, 2) the primary functionality of the site provides whisky recommendations / matches, or "mates". Whisky Mates was developed to be an objective source of information: it leverages data generated by the pros in the industry - the folks that create whisky, produce it, blend it, and taste it, among other things. We collect this information, organize it, normalize it, and display it in a way that is easy to digest, helping you learn about whisky. In a way, the goal was to create something similar to IMdB, but for whiskies. To carry this analogy further, we're not producing movies or critiquing them, we're showing how they are interconnected, which ones have the same actors, how they might be similar, and then recommending new ones based on the movies you already like.

Importantly, we recognize there is no substitute for experience, and that every palate is different. Parts of the matching algorithms are objective - things like ABV, price, or mash bill. However, parts are also subjective - things like tasting notes and ratings rely on the opinions of experts; but even experts frequently disagree. So while we believe these tools will go a long way toward helping you identify new whiskies to fall in love with, they are not perfect, and you will still have to try lots of whisky to figure out what you really like (sorry).

What Whisky Mates is: A collection of technology tools that analyzes hundreds of the most popular, accessible whiskies to help you identify your favorite producers and bottles, and discover other whiskies you'll love.

What Whisky Mates is not: An exhaustive list of thousands of rare, extinct or hard-to-find whiskies, or other alcohol types. There are plenty of awesome sites out there that already do this, like Whiskybase or Distiller.