Editorial Policy

TasteSCOT is an independent editorial site covering Scottish food and drink. This page sets out the standards we hold ourselves to when writing, researching, reviewing, and updating coverage — and what you can expect from us as a reader.

Our editorial principles

Everything we publish is held to four principles:

1. Honest. We will say if something is overpriced, average, or not worth the money — even when it’s a well-known Scottish brand. A “best of” list with no bad picks is marketing, not editorial.
2. Independent. We don’t accept free product, paid placements disguised as editorial, press trips, brand hospitality, or tourism-board-funded coverage. We don’t let affiliate partnerships influence our recommendations. See our Affiliate Disclosure for the full rules.
3. Scotland-first. We’re written for people who live in Scotland or know the place well, not for tourists. That means real Scottish prices, real Scottish suppliers, and the assumption that you already know Scotland is a country and not a quaint theme park.
4. Price-aware. Every recommendation sits in a real price context. We publish prices, we say where we saw them, and we check them regularly. Articles with prices carry a “prices checked” date in the sources section.

How we research articles

Our research process for any product or place-based article follows a strict source hierarchy:

1. Direct from producer or retailer. We check distillery websites, brewery shops, retailer product pages, and official supplier pages for current prices, availability, and opening hours.
2. Industry bodies. We use the Scotch Whisky Association, Seafood Scotland, Scotland Food & Drink, the Marine Conservation Society, Food Standards Scotland, and CAMRA as primary sources for industry data, sustainability ratings, and seasonality.
3. Recognised award bodies. International Wine & Spirit Competition, Scottish Beer Awards, Scottish Gin Awards, and the World Whiskies Awards are used to verify specific competition results we cite.
4. Expert publications and books. Whisky Advocate, Malt Review, the CAMRA Good Beer Guide, the Marine Conservation Society’s Good Fish Guide, and reputable national food writing.
5. Personal experience. Where we’re writing about a place we’ve visited, we say so and ground the review in specifics we observed.

What we won’t cite

• Wikipedia for product, distillery, or producer information — it can be outdated or wrong on specifics.
• Brand marketing copy as independent fact. A distillery saying its own whisky is “world-renowned” is advertising, not information.
• TripAdvisor reviews as editorial opinion. We may use aggregate data points (“4.5 stars from 2,000 reviews”) but never quote individual reviews as representative.
• Social media posts as primary sources for product or producer facts.

Fact-checking and prices

Every price we publish is verified against a current retailer listing at the time of writing. Articles with prices carry a “Prices checked” note in the sources section identifying the retailers we checked against and the month the check was performed. If a price changes by more than 10% from what’s published, we update the article and bump the “Updated” date.

How we assess producers and products

We don’t publish a numeric score. Our producer profiles and buying guides are research-based, built from what’s verifiable rather than from a rating we’ve assigned:

• The facts: range, current prices, ABV, age statements, and — where it’s documented — who actually distils or makes it.
• Value: price relative to what’s in the bottle and to comparable named products, including price per unit of alcohol via our whisky value calculator.
• Independent awards: medals from competitions such as the IWSC, the International Spirits Challenge and the Scotch Whisky Masters — judged blind by professional panels. Where we point to quality, that is the evidence we lean on, not a score of our own.
• Availability: whether a normal UK drinker can actually buy the core expressions, rather than allocation- or duty-free-only releases.

Descriptions of a product’s character reflect its documented, widely agreed profile and the makers’ own notes — not a first-hand TasteSCOT tasting, unless a page explicitly says we tasted it. We don’t accept review samples in exchange for coverage, and affiliate links are disclosed on every page that uses them.

Corrections

We make mistakes. When we get something wrong, we correct it and say so. If you spot a factual error, outdated price, closed venue, or broken link, email corrections@tastescot.co.uk and we’ll fix it within 48 hours. Significant factual corrections are noted at the bottom of the article with a brief explanation of what was changed and when.

No sponsored content

We do not publish sponsored content, advertorial, or “presented by” articles. Nobody pays to be reviewed, featured, or ranked higher in a buying guide. The only commercial relationship we have with the products we cover is affiliate links, which are disclosed on every article that uses them and never influence a recommendation — see our Affiliate Disclosure.

Conflicts of interest

If any TasteSCOT writer has a personal or financial relationship with a product, distillery, brewery, or venue being reviewed, that relationship is disclosed at the top of the article. Writers cannot review products from companies they own shares in, work for, or have worked for in the last 12 months.

Alcohol content and responsibility

TasteSCOT covers alcoholic products (whisky, gin, craft beer). All our alcohol coverage follows the Portman Group Code of Practice on the naming, packaging, and promotion of alcoholic drinks. We never:

• Encourage excessive drinking or irresponsible consumption
• Target content at under-18s
• Suggest that drinking enhances social, sexual, or professional success
• Describe getting drunk as positive, aspirational, or humorous

Every alcohol article carries a “drink responsibly” reminder in the site disclaimer at the end.

AI disclosure

TasteSCOT’s articles are written with AI assistance, as is increasingly common in modern editorial. This means we use large language models to help draft, structure, and edit copy — but every factual claim, price, source, and recommendation is verified by a human before publishing. Editorial judgement on what to recommend, what to criticise, and how to frame a story is always human.

Updating this policy

If our standards change, we update this page and bump the “Last updated” date at the top. Material changes are announced in the newsletter. The current version is always the one published here.

Contact

Questions about editorial standards, corrections, or this policy: hello@tastescot.co.uk.