About
About The Dry Standard
Why this site exists, how we classify drinks by production type, and how the scores work.
The Dry Standard is an editorial review site for beverages at 0.5% ABV or less. We are especially interested in drinks that were fermented or distilled first and then had the alcohol taken out.
That is a narrower brief than “non-alcoholic.” It is also the point.
What we cover
Dealcoholized wine, beer, spirits, aperitifs, cider, sparkling wine, and ready-to-drink cocktails or spritzes. A product can appear here if it meets the ABV ceiling. It will not be called dealcoholized unless we can show that alcohol was removed from a finished, or at least high-proof, alcoholic liquid.
How we classify production
Dealcoholized means a documented alcohol-removal step: vacuum distillation, spinning cone column, reverse osmosis, membrane or cold filtration, osmotic distillation, or another named process.
Method and disclosure are separate. A named still is a method. “Alcohol removed” without a technique is Method: Unknown — the producer has not published how it was done. Unpublished is not a method.
Alternative means the drink was built as a non-alcoholic analogue from the start. Botanicals, flavors, juices, and extracts are legitimate tools. They are not dealcoholization.
Naturally low alcohol means a traditional process — fermentation, specialized yeasts, arrested fermentation — that finishes at or below 0.5% ABV without a separate removal step.
Hybrid means the drink is defined by more than one approach: dealcoholized wine in a sangria, dealcoholized rum in a cola, or a fruit-wine blend. Adding grape must back after removal does not, by itself, make a hybrid.
Not verified means the producer has not published a method we can cite. We do not infer one from a “0.0” on the label.
Verification is a separate field. A botanical whiskey alternative is Alternative, verified, not “Dealcoholized: No.”
If sources disagree, we print the disagreement.
What we will not do
- Invent ABV, ingredients, origin, price, or a production method.
- Call a product dealcoholized because it is marketed as non-alcoholic.
- Preach sobriety, wellness, or “clean” living.
- Publish a review to hit a quota when the facts are thin.
- Stuff keywords into copy that should read like a magazine.
Tasting notes are opinion. Production facts are sourced or omitted.
The 100-point scale
The number is a quality score, not a likeness-to-ethanol score. A formulated aperitif can outscore a clumsy dealcoholized wine.
We weigh:
| Factor | What we are asking |
|---|---|
| Flavor | Is it good to drink? |
| Aroma | Does the nose have character, or only sweetness? |
| Texture / body | Does it have weight without gum-and-syrup tricks doing all the work? |
| Finish | Does it end, or collapse? |
| Complexity | More than one idea in the glass? |
| Balance | Sugar, acid, bitterness, carbonation — in proportion? |
| Value | Is the price honest for what you get? |
| Authenticity to category | Does a stout still behave like a stout? |
Bands we use internally (see methodology for full guidance):
| Band | What it means |
|---|---|
| 90+ | Rare; reorder / cellar reference. |
| 85–89 | Standout; shortlist material. |
| 80–84 | Clearly good; we would seek it again. |
| 75–79 | Solid everyday bottle when the style fits. |
| 70–74 | Drinkable with caveats. |
| 60–69 | Adequate; there is a reason to skip it. |
| Below 60 | Not recommended. |
We do not print marketing stickers (“Excellent”, “World Class”) on the score badge. The number is enough; methodology lives next to it.
Methodology lives with the reviews, not in a PDF nobody reads.
Who edits this
Karl Hill is the editor. He tastes and writes in Washington, DC.
The cellar started as a sorting problem. The non-alcoholic aisle puts dealcoholized wine next to botanical spirits next to flavored water at ten dollars for twelve ounces, then grows too fast for the labels to keep up. Drinkers are not one type — some will take 0.5%, some want 0.0, some want an alternative that was never alcoholic — and it is easy to buy the wrong bottle. Classification, search, and provenance are the work: what a drink is, how it was made, how much alcohol it contains, and whether that matches what you wanted. A production method is printed only when a source will stand behind it.
Write
- Readers, corrections, and everything else: hello@drinkdrystandard.com
- Brands, samples, and partnerships: industry@drinkdrystandard.com — answered within three business days. Details: For Brands & Industry.
- Press: press@drinkdrystandard.com
- The editor: editor@drinkdrystandard.com
How reviews get published
Products enter a queue. They are researched, drafted, and checked against sources. A review that fails factual validation does not publish, even if the calendar says it is a publishing day.
What this is not
This is not a shop (yet). There are no carts and no accounts. Purchase links are citations of where a bottle has been sold, not necessarily endorsements of a retailer. How we handle industry forms is in the privacy policy.
For brands and industry
Brands, producers, importers, distributors, and other industry partners may submit a product for editorial consideration or inquire about collaborations. A sample does not guarantee a review. Details: For Brands & Industry.
The scale measures drink quality, not likeness to ethanol. We do not spread scores to fill bands.
Brands, producers, importers, and other industry partners may submit a product or inquire about collaborations. Editorial coverage is independent of samples and commercial relationships.