BottleScout

Privacy Policy

Last updated: June 14, 2026

The short version

BottleScout does not track you. We do not log IP addresses, user IDs, cookies, browsing history, retailer accounts, cart contents, or anything else that could identify you. We collect anonymous, aggregate product-query strings — and only product-query strings — so we can know what reviews to publish next. That's it.

What we collect

We collect the following, in this much detail:

• Product queries:the search terms you type into BottleScout (e.g., “buffalo trace”), the slug of any bottle detail page you visit, and a flag indicating whether your search matched a published review. This is aggregated and used to inform our review pipeline.
• Embed origins:when a third-party site embeds our widget, we count impressions per domain (the hostname only) so we can know who's embedding our scores. We do not record which end-user viewed the embed.
• HTTP referer header (when present): the URL the request came from. Stored alongside the product query. Useful for knowing whether searches come from the homepage, the extension, or an embedder.

What we don't collect

• IP addresses
• User accounts, names, email addresses, or any account identifiers
• Cookies (none are set by BottleScout)
• Browsing history outside of search queries made directly to BottleScout
• Retailer account information, cart contents, prices you saw on retailer pages, or purchase history
• Device fingerprints, MAC addresses, advertising IDs
• Anything from third-party analytics scripts (we don't use any)

The Chrome extension

The BottleScout Chrome extension requests two kinds of permissions:

• Host permissionsfor the eight supported retailers (Reserve Bar, Total Wine, K&L Wines, Caskers, Drizly, Cigars International, Famous Smoke, Holt's). The extension reads the product name from the page DOM so it can query our review database. It does not read your cart, your account, your cookies, or any other content on the page.
• The storage permission to cache BottleScout API responses for about five minutes in chrome.storage.session. This avoids re-querying our API on every page navigation. The cache is wiped when Chrome closes.

The extension does not request tabs, cookies, webRequest, or any broad permission. The extension code is open-source under the MIT license at github.com/reviewstercom-arch/bottlescout — feel free to audit it.

Who we share data with

No one. We do not sell, lease, or share the aggregate query data we collect with any third party. We do not run advertising networks. We do not embed third-party trackers, pixels, or analytics tools.

Our hosting providers — Vercel for the web app and Supabase for the database — receive the requests we serve as a function of running the service. Both have their own security practices and we recommend reading Vercel's privacy policy and Supabase's privacy policy if you want the full picture.

How long we keep data

Aggregate query data is retained indefinitely so we can analyze long-term trends in what bottles people look up. Because the data is anonymized and does not identify individuals, there is no individual data to retain or delete.

Children

BottleScout covers spirits and cigars. The service is intended for adults of legal drinking and tobacco-purchasing age in their jurisdiction. We do not knowingly collect data from anyone under 21 in the United States or the corresponding legal age elsewhere.

Changes to this policy

If we change our data practices, we will update this page and bump the “Last updated” date. Material changes will be announced on the Boozemakers newsletter and pinned to the homepage for at least 30 days.

Contact

Questions about how BottleScout handles data? Email booze@boozemakers.com.