Methodology
How we score and verify
Scoring, tasting, category differences, provenance confidence, samples, and producer claims.
The Dry Standard publishes independent reviews of beverages at 0.5% ABV or less. Scores judge drink quality. Production facts are printed only when a source will stand behind them.
Scoring
We use a 100-point quality scale. The number is not a likeness-to-ethanol score. A formulated aperitif can outscore a clumsy dealcoholized wine.
We weigh flavor, aroma, texture, finish, complexity, balance, value, and authenticity to category (does a stout still behave like a stout?).
Likeness and structural authenticity are separate assessments. They do not set the score.
Editorial bands
These bands guide reviewers. We do not print marketing stickers on the score badge.
| Band | Guidance |
|---|---|
| 70–74 | Drinkable, with a clear flaw or thinness. Recommend only with caveats. |
| 75–79 | Solid everyday bottle when the style fits. |
| 80–84 | Clearly good. We would seek it again. |
| 85–89 | Standout in category. Shortlist material. |
| 90+ | Rare. Reorder / cellar reference. |
| 60–69 | Adequate. There is a reason to skip it. |
| Below 60 | Not recommended. |
AI-assisted drafts may not invent a band narrative. Score is an editor field; prose must not arbitrarily justify a number that structure and tasting notes do not support.
How tasting works
We taste products as they are sold. Notes cover nose, palate, and finish. Structure scales (sweetness, acidity, bitterness, body, and others) are category-aware: wine fields are not forced onto beer or spirits.
Public glance vocabulary: Flavor profile, Structure, then Nose / Palate / Finish. The essay makes the case; it does not paste the glance fields line for line.
What “wine-like” means
Category likeness asks whether the drink behaves like its claimed category. Structural authenticity asks whether alcohol’s usual roles — body, acid, tannin, bitterness, heat, dryness, finish — are recreated without gum-and-syrup tricks doing all the work. A drink can be enjoyable and not wine-like, or wine-like and flawed.
Production classification
Dealcoholized means a documented alcohol-removal step. Alternative means built as a non-alcoholic analogue from the start. Naturally low alcohol finishes ≤0.5% without a separate removal step. Hybrid combines approaches. Unclassified means we cannot place the drink in that taxonomy from citable sources.
Verification is separate from type. Disclosure stance is separate again: Documented when sources support the claim, Undeclared when makers stay silent, Withheld when secrecy is on the record. ABV without a number prints as Undeclared. A known type with unnamed equipment prints Technique undeclared. We do not upgrade marketing zeros into methods.
Provenance confidence
Facts such as ABV, method, and ingredients carry source metadata when known. Confidence labels (producer verified, bottle verified, secondary source, and others) describe the strength of evidence. Disagreements are printed, not smoothed over.
Readers can open Sources & verification on each review to inspect why we believe a claim.
Samples and independence
A sample does not guarantee a review, and it does not guarantee a favorable one. Free samples are disclosed. Commercial relationships never change the score or the tasting wording.
Retasting and producer claims
Products change: reformulations, vintages, ABV, methods, packages. We keep product_id so history can accumulate without overwriting prior reviews. Producer claims are accepted only with a citable source; label and technical sheet beat retailer copy for process claims.
Who signs
Karl Hill is the editor. Research tools may help assemble sources. They do not invent a spinning cone, and they do not publish.
The scale measures drink quality, not likeness to ethanol. We do not spread scores to fill bands.