Questions

Straight answers.

How DramFinder works, what it costs, and what happens to your list and your data, in plain terms. If yours isn’t here, ask us.

Getting started

What is DramFinder, in one sentence?

DramFinder gives your venue its own page where a guest scans a QR code, taps the flavours they want on a sixteen-point compass, and is matched to the bottles you actually pour, with an honest score and a picture of why.

How long does it take to set up?

About fifteen minutes. You upload your list, set two colours to match your brand, and print your QR code. Everything after that is optional, and nothing you skip stops your page working.

What do I need to start?

Your bottle list, in whatever form you already keep it, and two colours for your brand. You do not need a card, a contract, or anything installed.

Do I need a card to start?

No. The first thirty days are free and ask for no card, so trying DramFinder costs you nothing, and forgetting about it costs you nothing either.

Can I see it working before I sign up?

Yes. The compass on our homepage is live, and you can open a full demo venue to see exactly what a guest sees. Neither asks you to sign in.

See a live venue

Do my staff need training?

No. Guests use the page themselves from their own phones, so there is nothing for your staff to run or learn. If table mode is on, all they do is read what a table has been looking at.

Does it work with the menus and QR codes I already have?

You get your own page and a QR code to print and put wherever suits you: on the tables, by the till, or next to your existing menu. Your current menu and signage stay exactly as they are, and DramFinder sits alongside them rather than replacing them.

Your list

How do I get my bottles in?

Four ways, whichever is least work for you: paste the list in, upload a file, photograph a printed menu, or photograph the labels. You give us the list you already have rather than typing it out again.

What if a bottle isn't recognised?

It still goes on your page with your price, and we work out what it is in the background. Nothing you upload is turned away, and a bottle we have not finished identifying is simply shown as such rather than dropped.

What does "confirm a guess" mean, and why does it matter?

When we are not certain which bottling a line on your list is, we show you our best guess rather than deciding silently, with one tap to correct it. It matters because you know your own stock, and a wrong guess you can see is a wrong guess you can fix in a second.

How do I update prices or remove a bottle?

From your list, in your account. Each bottle has its price to edit inline, a one-tap in-stock switch, and a remove button, and every change reaches your guest page straight away.

What happens when a bottle sells out?

Mark it out of stock in one tap, and guests see it as unavailable. Switch it back when it returns, so you do not have to remove it and add it again.

Can I show some bottles and hide others?

Your list is yours to curate. Remove any bottle in one tap and it is off your guest page; out of stock is the lighter touch, keeping the bottle on your list but marked unavailable to guests.

Is there a limit on bottles?

No. Your whole list is included, however long it is, with no per-bottle charge and no cap.

Your guests and the Compass

What does a guest see?

Your page, in your branding, with the compass front and centre. They tap the flavours they want and get the bottles you pour that fit, each with a score and a small radar showing how it matches.

How does the matching work?

It is pure arithmetic. We measure the distance between the flavours a guest asked for and each bottle on the sixteen characters, with no model and no opinion in the guest path, so the same request always gives the same answer.

The method, in full

What is the Flavour Compass?

It is our classification of whisky flavour into sixteen named characters, grouped by where they come from in production. A bottle’s place on it is measured from tasting evidence, never guessed from its name or its region.

See the Compass

What if a guest doesn't like whisky, or doesn't know what they like?

The compass asks about flavours, not about whisky knowledge, so a guest picks what sounds good to them: something sweet, something smoky, something fruity. They do not need to know a single distillery or style to get a useful answer.

Does a guest need to download anything or sign in?

No. They scan the code, the page opens in their browser, and they start tapping. Nothing is installed, and nothing is stored on their phone.

What is table mode?

With table mode on, a guest can say which table they are at, and your staff see recent searches by table. It turns a guest’s browsing into something your floor can act on, and you switch it on or off in your account.

Can I put the Compass on my own website?

Yes. There is a widget that embeds the compass on your own site, pointed at your list, and it is included in your price. You turn it on from your account.

What if a match is wrong?

Every match is arithmetic on the flavours the guest chose, shown with its score and its reason, so there is no hidden judgement to be wrong. If a bottle’s reading itself looks off, tell us and we re-check it against the evidence rather than nudging a number.

Pricing and billing

What happens at day thirty if I never add a card?

Your page simply stops serving until you do. Nothing is charged and nothing is taken. The free thirty days ask for no card precisely so that forgetting costs you nothing.

What happens to my list if I cancel?

Your guest page comes down and your data stops being processed. Ask us before you go and we will send you your bottle list and your prices. On a yearly plan your page stays up until the twelve months are out.

Do I need more than one subscription?

One per venue. Each site gets its own address, its own branding and its own list, because in practice no two bars stock the same thing. Two to five venues under one owner is the Group price.

Is there a setup fee?

No. You pay the per-venue price and nothing else: no setup fee, no per-guest charge, and no cap on how often your page is used.

Are my guests tracked?

No. A guest opens a link, taps some flavours and gets an answer. Nothing is installed and nothing is stored on their phone, and the terms say so.

How do I pay, and is VAT added?

By card, monthly or yearly, through our payment provider. We are not VAT-registered, so the prices shown are the prices you pay, with no VAT to add.

What is the Group price, and who is it for?

Group is for two to five venues under one owner. You get one invoice, and the per-venue price falls as you add venues. You arrange it at sign-up, or from your settings once you are in.

What does "your price holds for 24 months" mean?

The price you start on is fixed for twenty-four months from your first payment. If our prices change in that time, yours does not, and any change after it comes with at least sixty days’ notice.

How does the referral month work?

Share your referral code, and when a venue you refer signs up and goes on to pay, you get a month free. There is a limit on how many you can earn in a month, and the credit lands once their first payment clears.

Can I switch between monthly and yearly?

Yes, from your billing settings. Moving to yearly charges the year from that day and gives you the two months free; moving back to monthly takes effect at your next renewal.

What happens if my card fails?

We email you, and your page keeps serving through a short grace period while you fix it. If payment still does not go through, the page pauses until it does, and nothing on your list is lost.

Do you offer refunds?

The thirty days free, with no card, mean you only start paying once you have decided it works. After that it is rolling month to month, so if you cancel, your page stays up to the end of the period you have already paid for. For anything unusual, email us.

Your account and data

Who owns my list and my data?

You do. Your bottle list, your prices and your guests’ activity are yours, and we hold them only to run your page.

Can I export my data?

Yes. Ask us and we will send you your bottle list and your prices, and under UK data protection law you can ask for a copy of everything we hold about you.

What happens to my data if I leave?

Your guest page comes down, and we delete your data within ninety days once your venue is closed with us. Ask us before you go and we will send you your list and prices first.

Who can see my analytics?

You, in your account. We do not sell your data or share it with advertisers, and there is no third party watching your venue’s activity.

What does the Monday mail tell me?

On a Monday, if there is something worth saying, you get a short email: the flavours your guests asked for that week, and the ones your list could not answer yet. It only arrives when there is something in it, so a quiet week is a quiet inbox.

How do I cancel?

From your account, or by emailing us. It is monthly with no minimum term, so you can cancel any month, and your page stays up to the end of what you have paid for.

Trust and the method

Do you track my guests?

No. The guest page runs no analytics, advertising or tracking scripts of any kind, and stores nothing on a guest’s phone. A guest taps flavours and gets an answer, and that is the end of it.

Do you use my data to train anything, or sell it on?

No. We do not sell your data or share it with advertisers, and the guest matching uses no model at all, so there is nothing being trained on your list or your guests.

Where is my data stored?

In Supabase, hosted in the EU, in Amazon’s Ireland region (eu-west-1). Our privacy policy lists every company that touches your data and what each one does.

The privacy policy

Is the matching tested?

The method is published in full, including how well it agrees with a human reviewer, and we publish that figure whether it flatters us or not. Where parts are still being calibrated, the method paper says so plainly rather than claiming more than we have shown.

The method paper

Who is behind DramFinder?

DramFinder is built by Lactone Labs, a research company in Scotland. It is one of a handful of instruments we build for the whisky trade.

About Lactone Labs

For distilleries and bottlers

Is there anything for brands rather than bars?

Yes, and it works by conversation rather than a sign-up form. If you make or bottle whisky, talk to us about putting your story on the bottles that venues already pour.

For producers

Can I see which bars list my bottles?

Not by name. We can show you what guests across venues ask for, aggregated, but never a particular venue’s identity or list. A venue’s custom is the venue’s, and we do not hand it to anyone.