Frequently Asked Questions

A personal whiskey collection tracker. Catalog every bottle with its distillery, bottler, ABV, age, tasting notes, and photos — and keep your entire collection organized in one place instead of a spreadsheet.

Yes. Creating an account and tracking your collection is free. Free accounts can track up to 100 bottles and run up to 10 Glen label scans. There's also an optional Pro tier that removes those limits and unlocks Glen's Recommendations, Glen's Picks for You, Collection Insights, unlimited custom lists, and bulk QR code downloads.

Click Log In in the navbar, then choose Register. Pick a username (4–24 characters; letters, numbers, underscores, and hyphens only), enter your email address, and create a password. You'll receive a confirmation email — click the link inside to activate your account before logging in.

You most likely haven't confirmed your email yet. Check your inbox (and spam folder) for the confirmation email and click the link inside. If it didn't arrive or the link has expired, use the "Resend verification email" option on the login page.

From the navbar, go to My Lists → My Bottles, then click the Add Bottle button at the top of the page. You can upload up to three photos right away — and if you have a photo of the label, Glen (our AI label scanner) can read it and fill in the bottle details for you automatically. Otherwise, fill in the name, bottle type, distillery, ABV, age, and tasting notes yourself. You can edit anything at any time.

Each bottle can hold: name, bottle type, one or more distilleries, bottler, barrel picker, ABV, age statement, year distilled, year bottled, and tasting notes. You can also upload up to three photos and mark a bottle private so it stays off your public profile.

American Light Whiskey, American Single Malt, American Whiskey, Bourbon, Canadian Whiskey, Irish Whiskey, Rye, Scotch, Tennessee Whiskey, World Whisk(e)y, and Other.

They're the entities behind a bottle. A Distillery is where the spirit was made. A Bottler is a company that sources and releases whisky from another distillery — also called an independent bottler. A Barrel Picker is a retailer or individual who selected a specific barrel for a private release. Manage all three under the Manage menu, then assign them when adding or editing a bottle.

Yes. Some bottles are vatted from multiple distilleries. When adding or editing a bottle you can select as many distilleries as apply.

You can upload up to three photos when adding a bottle, or later via Edit Bottle. Accepted formats are JPG and PNG. On a free account photos are stored at reduced size; Pro accounts retain full-resolution originals.

Marking a bottle as killed records the date you finished it. It moves off your active bottles but stays in your history, so your complete record — everything you've ever poured through — is preserved.

Yes. On your bottle list, the "Random Bottle" button in the top right (next to "Filter List") picks a bottle from your collection for you. You can also filter by type first if you want a random Bourbon or a random Scotch specifically.

Glen is a built-in AI feature that reads a photo of a bottle's label and fills in the details — distillery, ABV, age, and more — saving you the manual typing. You'll find it on the Add Bottle page. Free accounts get up to 10 scans; Pro accounts get unlimited scans.

Every bottle has a unique QR code that links directly to its detail page. Scan it with any phone camera to pull up the bottle instantly. Download the QR code from the bottle's detail page — handy for labeling physical bottles or sharing a link with someone.

Pro accounts can download a zip file of QR codes for all active bottles — or all bottles including killed ones — from My Account → Your Data. Free accounts can still download individual QR codes one bottle at a time from each bottle's detail page.

When adding a bottle you can set a Quantity. Setting it to 3, for example, creates three separate entries of that bottle in your collection — it doesn't add a "count" field to a single record. Each entry is its own independent bottle with its own notes, rating, and timeline, so you can track them individually as you open or finish each one.

My Whiskies Online was built for people who buy whiskey to drink it — not to flip it. Tracking market prices would turn a cellar into a portfolio, and that's not what this is. We're here to help you remember what you've tasted, record what you loved, and share what's on your shelf. The real value of any bottle is in the glass.

Yes. Go to My Account → Your Data and click Import Bottles. Upload a CSV or XLSX export from your current app and the importer walks you through two steps: upload the file, then map your column names to My Whiskies Online fields. The importer auto-suggests the right mapping — so if your app uses column names like "Brand," "Proof," or "Purchase Date," it will usually match them automatically and you just review before importing.

CSV and XLSX. For CSV, UTF-8 and UTF-8 BOM files work out of the box; files saved with Western (CP-1252) encoding also import correctly. If your app exports as UTF-16 or a binary format, open the file in Excel or Google Sheets first and re-save it as CSV UTF-8 before importing.

Bottle Name and Distilleries are required — every other field is optional. Supported fields include: bottle type, bottler, barrel picker, ABV (or Proof, converted automatically), size, age, year distilled, year bottled, date purchased, cost, star rating (1–5), description, personal notes, review, and kill date. Columns in your file that don't match any field can simply be left unmapped and will be skipped.

No — imports are always additive. Your existing bottles are untouched; the imported bottles are added on top of them. If you import the same file twice, you'll get duplicate bottles. If a first import looked wrong, delete those bottles before fixing the mapping and re-importing.

The importer skips that row and keeps going — one bad row never cancels the rest. After the import, the result page shows exactly which rows were skipped and why (for example, "Name is blank" or "Distillery is blank"), and which individual fields were left blank on otherwise-imported bottles (for example, an ABV value that was out of range). When a value is ambiguous or out of range, the importer leaves that field blank and reports it rather than guessing — your data stays accurate, and you decide what to fill in.

For proof, the mapping page has a Proof (÷ 2) radio button next to the ABV column selector — choose it and the importer divides every value by 2 for you automatically. For star ratings, My Whiskies Online uses a 1–5 scale; if your file uses a different range (like 1–10 or 0–100), rescale the values in your spreadsheet before importing — the importer will leave any rating above 5 blank rather than guess at a conversion.

Free accounts follow the same 100-bottle cap as manual adds — once your collection reaches 100 bottles, the importer stops and tells you how many were skipped. Upgrading to Pro removes that cap and lets you import your full collection in one go. For very large files (several thousand rows), splitting into smaller batches is recommended to stay within server time limits.

Glen's Recommendations is a Pro feature that looks at what's in a specific bottle — type, distillery, ABV, tasting notes — and suggests 3 to 5 similar whiskies you might enjoy. You'll find it on any bottle's detail page as a card labeled "Ask Glen." Glen uses AI to analyze the bottle's profile and returns personalized suggestions you can browse right in a side drawer, or add directly to your Wish List with one click. For collection-wide picks based on your highest-rated bottles across your entire cellar, see "What is Glen's Picks for You?" below.

Glen returns two kinds of suggestions. Most are actual bottles — a specific whiskey by name that you can add straight to your Wish List. Some are marked with a Direction tag instead: rather than naming one product, these describe a style or profile worth exploring (for example, "a heavily sherried Speyside" or "a high-rye bourbon"). A Direction is a pointer for your own hunting, not a single bottle, so it's shown in italics and has no "Add to Wish List" button. Glen leans on Directions when it's more confident about the flavor territory you'd enjoy than about any one bottle being the right call.

Recommendations are generated once per bottle and cached for 7 days. The card on the bottle's detail page shows a countdown to when Glen can run a fresh batch for that bottle. There's no limit across your collection — you can ask Glen about as many different bottles as you like, each on its own 7-day timer. Bottle-specific picks are transient: when you refresh them, the new set replaces the old one — they're not saved to a history the way Glen's collection-wide Picks for You are. If you want to keep any, add them to your Wish List before refreshing.

The item is added to your Wish List instantly and disappears from the recommendations list — no need to navigate away or confirm anywhere else. Once you've added every one of Glen's suggestions, the card confirms that all picks are on your list and shows a link to view your Wish List. Items you've already added won't reappear if you revisit the drawer.

No — Glen's suggestions are AI-generated and not pulled from a verified product catalog. Names, availability, and price ranges are approximate. Use them as a starting point to explore new bottles, not as a shopping list you can take straight to the store.

Glen's Picks for You is a Pro feature that looks across your entire collection — not just one bottle — and recommends 4 whiskies tailored to your overall taste. Glen studies your highest-rated bottles for patterns: types you gravitate toward, distilleries, ABV ranges, and tasting notes, then returns picks it thinks you'd love but probably haven't tried yet. You'll find it as a panel on your home page, directly below Collection Health.

At least 5 bottles need a star rating before Glen has enough signal to make meaningful picks. If you haven't rated 5 yet, the panel will prompt you to rate your bottles first. The more you rate, the more accurately Glen can read your taste.

Once every 7 days. Your current picks stay visible on your home page until you generate a new set — they don't expire or disappear. When the cooldown is up, a "Generate New Recommendations" link appears in the panel so you can ask Glen for a fresh batch whenever you're ready.

Yes — for Glen's collection-wide Picks for You. Every set of collection picks is saved to your history: click View History in the Glen's Picks panel, or go to My Lists → Glen's Picks for You in the navbar. Picks are grouped by the week they were generated, and you can add any of them to your Wish List or remove individual picks from your history at any time. (The bottle-specific "Ask Glen" recommendations on a bottle's page are not saved to history — they're transient and overwritten when you refresh, so add any you want to keep to your Wish List first.)

The Wish List is a dedicated space for bottles you want to try or buy. Every account gets one automatically — no setup needed. Each item can hold the bottle name, type, distillery, target price, and any notes you want to remember when you're at the shop.

Go to My Lists → Wish List and click Add Item. Fill in as much or as little as you know — at minimum a name. You can also add items directly from a bottle's detail page using the Add to List button, which will pre-fill the bottle's details for you.

Yes. Your Wish List is private by default. Toggle it public using the Share button at the top of the page and anyone with the link can view it — useful for hinting to friends and family around the holidays. A globe icon in the navbar indicates it's currently public.

Custom lists let you group any bottles from your collection into named lists — "Cabin Bottles", "Bottles to Try Next", "Gifts" — whatever makes sense for you. Unlike the Wish List, custom lists pull from bottles you already own. You can create as many as you like (Pro feature) and each can be kept private or shared publicly.

Custom lists are a Pro feature. Open the My Lists menu in the navbar and click New List. Give it a name and it appears in your navbar immediately. You can also create a new list directly from a bottle's detail page using the Add to List button.

From the custom list page, click Add Bottles to open a modal showing all your bottles. Bottles already on the list are pre-checked — check or uncheck any you like and save. All additions and removals happen in a single step. You can also add a bottle directly from its detail page using the Add to List button, or remove it from the list using the trash icon on the list page. To add several bottles at once from your collection, see "Can I add multiple bottles to a list at once?" below.

Yes. Each custom list is private by default. Toggle it public with the Share button on the list page and anyone with the link can view it. A globe icon next to the list name in the navbar indicates it's currently public.

Yes (Pro feature). On your bottle collection page (My Lists → My Bottles), click Add to list in the page header to enter bulk-select mode. Click any bottle name to select it — selected bottles are highlighted and a count appears in the bar at the top of the page. When you're happy with your selection, open the Add to list dropdown in that bar and pick an existing list to add them to it immediately, or choose New List to create a brand-new list pre-seeded with those bottles. The page redirects to the list once the bottles are added. Click Cancel in the bar at any time to exit without making changes.

Collection Insights is a Pro feature that turns your bottle data into a visual overview of your cellar. You get a stat band at the top, a breakdown by bottle type, a proof distribution chart, a collection timeline, cost and value analysis, and ranked lists of your most-collected distilleries, bottlers, and barrel pickers — all on one page.

Click your username in the top-right corner of any page and choose Collection Insights from the dropdown. It's only visible when you're logged in to a Pro account.

The toggle at the top of the page controls which bottles feed the charts and stats. Current Bottles shows only what's still in your collection — not yet killed. All Bottles includes everything, killed bottles and all, so you can see the full picture of what you've collected and consumed over time.

Each chart only uses bottles where the relevant field has actually been entered. ABV, cost, and star rating are all optional — if you haven't recorded them for any bottles, the charts that depend on them will have nothing to display. The more completely you fill in your bottles, the richer your Insights become.

Yes. Clicking Save as PNG opens a customization panel where you can check or uncheck each card — the stat band, both charts, At a Glance, the cost cards, and the Top lists. A live preview updates as you make your selections, and the exported image reflows so deselected cards never leave a blank gap. Your choices are remembered for next time.

How much you've spent on your collection is personal. We treat sensitive data as opt-in rather than opt-out — you have to actively choose to include it in a shared image rather than having to remember to exclude it. If you want to share your spend figures, just check the box in the customization panel before downloading.

The "Export cost-basis inventory" link in the What You've Spent card downloads a CSV of your collection with the price you paid for each bottle. It's a record of your actual purchase cost — not an appraisal, not a market valuation. Useful for home inventory documentation or providing your insurer with a conservative cost basis.

It depends on your account visibility setting. By default you have a public profile at my-whiskies.online/your-username where visitors can browse the bottles you've made public. You also control visibility per bottle — any bottle marked private is visible only to you.

If you set your account to private (under My Account), your profile becomes completely hidden: nobody can view any of your bottles, and your collection won't be featured in the random collections shown on the home page.

When adding or editing a bottle, check the "Private Bottle?" option to hide it from your public profile. You can change this at any time from the bottle's edit page.

Your public profile lists all your public bottles with their key details — name, distillery, type, and ABV. Visitors can use the "Show killed bottles" toggle to include your finished bottles alongside your active collection.

Yes — every bottle has a permanent URL you can copy from your browser's address bar. Anyone can view a bottle you've made public. Private bottles are only visible to you when logged in.

Every public bottle photo has a small flag icon in its bottom-right corner. Click it, pick a reason (and add any details), and submit — the report is sent to us for review, and we'll remove anything that doesn't belong. Anyone viewing a bottle can report an image, signed in or not; you won't see the flag on your own bottles. Uploaded images are also automatically screened for inappropriate content before they're stored.

Pro removes the 100-bottle and 10-scan limits (both become unlimited), retains your photos at full resolution, and unlocks two AI recommendation features: Glen's Recommendations (suggestions based on a specific bottle) and Glen's Picks for You (4 picks per week tailored to your highest-rated bottles across your whole collection). Pro also includes Collection Insights (a visual breakdown of your cellar by type, distillery, region, ABV, and more), unlimited custom lists to organize your collection any way you like, and bulk-download of all bottle QR codes as a zip file.

Visit the upgrade page and choose monthly ($4.99/mo) or annual ($49.99/yr) billing. Payments are handled securely by Stripe. You can cancel any time from My Account → Billing.

Log in, open My Account from the navbar (your username, top right), and use the relevant section. For email changes, a confirmation link is sent to the new address before the change takes effect.

Yes. Go to My Account and scroll to the bottom of the page. You'll be asked to confirm your username before the deletion goes through. This permanently removes your account and all associated data.

Yes. Use the theme switcher in the navbar to choose between Modern Cellar (light, navy accents), Barrel Room (dark, warm copper tones), and The Vault (dark, green and gold accents). Your choice is saved for future visits.

Use the Contact Us page (also under Help in the navbar). Tell us what you ran into or what you'd like to see — feedback from the community is what drives the app forward.