Data updates
WhatDrink data updates
When we make a material change to our public data or how we calculate it, we record it here. This is not a marketing changelog — routine deployments and cosmetic tweaks are left out.
What counts as a material update
A material data update is a change that alters what you see or how we calculate it: a change to how a metric (such as nutrition or alcohol strength) is estimated, a change to the public URL model or taxonomy for a group of pages, the activation of a new public guide area, or a reviewed refresh of the underlying data contract. Routine code deployments, styling tweaks, and internal experiments that do not change public data are not listed here.
Each entry corresponds to a real change. For how the data is built in the first place, see our methodology; to report an error, use corrections.
Update history
Public data, methodology and editorial pages published
We published a set of public pages explaining what our data covers, how it is built and validated, how content is governed, and how to report errors — and strengthened the site's structured data so search and AI tools can read it accurately.
- Affected data area
- Site-wide — data transparency, editorial policy, and structured data
- Methodology impact
- Transparency and accuracy of presentation only — the underlying data and calculations were unchanged.
- What changed
- New public pages for our data, methodology, editorial policy, corrections and data updates went live, and the site now declares a single, consistent organisation and website identity in its structured data.
- What did not change
- No recipe, nutrition, or drink data values were recalculated; this documented and described existing behaviour and improved how it is presented.
New coffee cocktail guides activated
Coffee cocktail guides were activated as a public discovery area, adding a browsable hub and individual guide pages for coffee-based drinks.
- Affected data area
- Drink guides — coffee cocktails
- Methodology impact
- None to calculations. This was a coverage/activation change, not a change to how any value is derived.
- What changed
- The coffee cocktails hub and its individual guide pages became publicly available and eligible for search indexing.
- What did not change
- Existing recipes, nutrition estimates, and other guide areas were unaffected; no recipe values were recalculated.
Unified drink-guide URL structure
Drink guide pages were consolidated under a single, consistent /drink-guides URL structure so that each guide has one canonical address.
- Affected data area
- Site structure — drink guide URLs and canonicals
- Methodology impact
- None to data calculations. This improved link consistency and canonicalisation only.
- What changed
- Guide pages now resolve under a unified /drink-guides path, and canonical URLs were normalised to that structure.
- What did not change
- The content of the guides, recipes, and their underlying data were unchanged; only the URL model and canonical references were affected.
Drink-guide methodology published
A public methodology page was published explaining how WhatDrink builds ranked, decision-focused drink guides from structured data.
- Affected data area
- Methodology — drink guides
- Methodology impact
- Transparency only — the underlying ranking approach was described, not changed.
- What changed
- The approach used to assemble and rank drink guides was documented publicly for the first time.
- What did not change
- No recipe, nutrition, or strength values changed; this documented existing behaviour rather than altering it.
Cocktail nutrition and strength methodology documented
A public explanation of how cocktail nutrition and alcohol strength are estimated was documented, including that these figures are estimates that vary with product, pour, and preparation.
- Affected data area
- Methodology — nutrition and alcohol estimates
- Methodology impact
- Transparency only — clarifies that nutrition and strength are estimates, not guarantees.
- What changed
- The estimation approach for nutrition and alcohol strength was written up in plain language, with its limitations stated.
- What did not change
- The estimates themselves were not recalculated as part of publishing this explanation.