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CocktailHQ

Explainable matching

Cocktail finder

Say how sweet, bitter, rich or fizzy you want it. Every suggestion tells you why it matched and where it falls short.

Most drink finders return a list and leave you to trust it. This one shows its working: each suggestion names the preferences it met, the ones it missed, and the ingredient responsible for each characteristic — so when a drink is not quite what you wanted, you can see which way to move.

There is no AI here and nothing is generated. Matching is a deterministic set of rules over the site's own recorded data: authored taste scores, curated ingredient character, and the structural read of each recipe. The same inputs always produce the same results, in the same order.

Start somewhere

Each of these sets the same preferences you could set by hand below, and runs the same matching.

Or say what you want

Leave anything blank and it will not be used to match or to explain.

Sweetness
Sharpness
Bitterness
Body
Fizz
Strength
Alcohol

Choosing alcohol-free removes alcoholic drinks entirely rather than ranking them lower.

Base spirit
Effort

Set at least one preference, or pick a starting point above.

How it decides

What the matching actually does

Requirements remove; preferences rank

Asking for alcohol-free is a requirement, not a preference — alcoholic drinks are removed entirely rather than ranked lower, however well they might otherwise match. Everything else is scored.

Taste outweighs circumstance

If you ask for something bitter and something easy, a bitter drink that takes a little effort beats an easy drink that is not bitter. Taste is why you are here; effort is a constraint on delivery.

Nothing is hidden to flatter a match

Every preference you set produces a line in the explanation, including the ones a drink fails. A suggestion that only listed its strengths would not be worth reading.

Other ways in

If a different question fits better