Privacy
Privacy policy
How’s the Pour is a small site run by one person. This describes exactly what it collects and what it does with it. No more, and nothing it does not actually do.
Last updated 28 October 2026
Who runs this
How’s the Pour is operated by an individual based in Massachusetts, USA. For anything in this policy, write to hello@howsthepour.com.
The short version
- Reviews you publish are public. That is the point of the site.
- There is no advertising and no third-party analytics or tracking on this site. No analytics services, no pixels, no advertising scripts following you around.
- Location, if you allow it, is used once to sort a list of nearby bars. It is not stored.
What is collected
When you create an account
You can sign in with a code sent to your email address, or with Google. Either way an email address is stored so the account can be identified. Signing in with Google also passes along the name and profile picture on your Google account.
Emails about your Pour Profile
Once you have rated a drink, we may email you when something good happens on your Pour Profile, such as your drink becoming the best find at a bar or your photo becoming its cover. That is at most 3 emails a week and never about anyone else. Every email has a one-tap unsubscribe, and the switch is in Edit profile. We do not track whether you open them; links in them carry a tag so we can count visits that came from an email, without knowing who made them.
How you found us
Some links we share, in a creator’s post, on a card in a bar or in our own posts, go through howsthepour.com/go/. Opening one counts a click for that link without recording who you are, and leaves a cookie for 7 days. If you create an account in that time, we note which link brought you, once. Only the site’s admin can see it, and it’s used only to learn which links bring in people who rate drinks.
The same goes for the kind of site you first arrived from, such as Instagram, Google or another website. A cookie holds just that word for 7 days, and if you create an account in that time we note it, once. It never records which post, page or person sent you.
Your profile
A username, and optionally a display name, a short bio and a profile picture. All of these are public, and you choose every one of them.
Reviews you write
The drink, the bar or shop, the price if you enter one, your scores, any tasting note, and your photo of the drink. All public, shown with your username.
Location
When you search for a venue, the browser may ask permission to use your location. If you allow it, an approximate position is sent with that one search so nearby places are listed first, and is passed to our maps and places search provider for the same purpose. It is not written to the database and not kept after the search. Declining changes nothing except the ordering of results.
Technical information
The hosting provider keeps ordinary server logs (IP address, browser, page requested), which is how any website on the internet works. The site also keeps a few counts and logs of its own, described next.
What the site keeps to work properly
- Page counts. Each page load is counted by page, whether it came from a person or a search engine, and the kind of site it came from. Who you are and your IP address are not recorded.
- A log of the rating form. Each step the form goes through, such as the photo opening or a publish failing, with the photo’s file type and size, any error, the kind of device and browser, and your account if you are signed in. It never includes anything you type or the photo itself. Only the site’s admin can see it, it is used to fix problems, and it is deleted after 30 days.
- Storage on your own device. Your browser keeps an unfinished rating and its photo for up to 7 days, so leaving the page doesn’t lose it; your answer to the age question; and, while you sign in, the email address the code went to, for up to an hour. This stays on your device and is never sent anywhere. Clearing your browser’s site data removes it.
Cookies
Four, all our own: the cookie that keeps you signed in; one that remembers which bar’s QR code you scanned, for 3 hours, so a rating there counts for that code; one that remembers which of our links you opened, for 7 days; and one that remembers the kind of site you first arrived from, for 7 days (both under How you found us). There are no advertising or third-party cookies, which is why this site has no cookie banner.
What is public
Your username, display name, profile picture, bio, reviews, photos and scores can be read by anyone, including people who are not signed in, and may be indexed by search engines. Your email address is never shown publicly.
Who else sees your data
These companies process data in order to run the site. None of them are paid to advertise to you.
| Service | What it handles |
|---|---|
| Database and storage provider | Accounts, ratings and photos |
| Hosting provider | Running the site, and server logs |
| Email delivery provider | Sending sign-in codes and Pour Profile emails |
| Maps and places search provider | Finding bars when you look one up, including your approximate location if you allow it |
| Map provider | Drawing the map’s labels; it sees your IP address when the map loads |
| Signing you in, if you choose Continue with Google |
Data may also be disclosed if the law requires it, or to deal with fraud, abuse or a threat to someone’s safety.
If someone sends a copyright notice about something you posted and you send a counter-notice, the law requires us to pass your name and contact details to them. See Copyright in the terms.
How long things are kept
Reviews and profiles stay until you remove them or ask for the account to be deleted. You can delete any individual review yourself at any time from the review page.
Deleting your account
There is no self-service delete button yet. This is a young site and that has not been built. Email hello@howsthepour.com from the address on your account and the account, its reviews and its photos will be removed from the site. Anything we have already used elsewhere under the terms, such as a social media post, may stay up. You can also ask for a copy of your data, or for something to be corrected.
Age
How’s the Pour is about alcoholic drinks and is not intended for anyone under 21 in the United States, or under the legal drinking age where you live. Accounts are not knowingly created for anyone younger, and we may close any account we believe belongs to someone underage.
Where data is held
With the providers listed above, which may store it in the United States or elsewhere. If you use the site from outside the US, your information may be processed in the US.
Changes
If this policy changes in a way that matters, the date at the top changes.