Terms of use

1. Who we are and what these terms cover

Best Beer (best-beer.com) is an independent guide to beer brands and styles with a member community and a directory of pubs and bars. These terms are an agreement between you and Best Beer ("we", "us"). By using the site you accept them. If you do not agree, please do not use the site. Our privacy policy explains how we handle your data and forms part of these terms.

2. You must be of legal drinking age

Best Beer is for adults. You may only use the site if you are of legal drinking age where you live: 21 in the United States and 18 in most other countries. We ask you to confirm this when you arrive and when you create an account. If we learn that a member is under age we will close the account. Nothing on this site is an encouragement to drink, and we ask everyone to drink responsibly and never to drink and drive.

3. The guides are information, not advice

Our brand and style guides are written for general information. We work carefully from public sources and check facts, but breweries change hands, recipes change and strengths vary by market, so we cannot promise that every detail is complete or current. Alcohol content, allergen and calorie figures are indicative; always check the label. Nothing on Best Beer is medical, nutritional or legal advice. If you have a health condition, are pregnant or take medication, speak to a doctor before drinking alcohol.

4. Your account

You need an account to post in the forum, check in beers, rate and review, or list a venue. Give us accurate details, keep your password private and tell us at info@best-beer.com if you think someone else has used your account. You are responsible for what happens under your login. One person, one account. We may suspend or close accounts that break these terms.

5. What you post

You keep ownership of everything you post: forum posts, check-ins, reviews, ratings and photos ("your content"). By posting it you give Best Beer a worldwide, royalty-free licence to show, store, translate, excerpt and promote your content on the site, in our newsletters and on our social channels, with credit to your display name. You can delete your content at any time; copies may remain in backups and in replies that quote it. You confirm that your content is yours to post and does not infringe anyone else's rights.

6. Community rules

The full forum rules apply to every post, review and check-in. In short, you may not:

• insult, harass or threaten anyone, or post hate speech, in any language;
• post sexual, violent or otherwise offensive content, or links to it;
• promote a business, brand, shop or service outside the places we provide for it (see section 7), or post affiliate links;
• post content that is false, misleading, defamatory or that infringes copyright or trade marks;
• post spam, bulk messages or automated content, or scrape the site;
• encourage excessive drinking, drinking by minors or drinking and driving;
• pretend to be someone else or create multiple accounts.

Posts are screened automatically and reviewed by moderators. We may edit, hide, move or remove content, and warn, mute or ban accounts, at our discretion and without notice. Our general approach is a warning, then a seven-day suspension, then a ban; serious cases skip the steps.

7. Breweries, brands and venues

If you work for a brewery, brand, bar or shop you are welcome, and you must say so in your profile. You may promote your business only in the Promote your brewery board and through a directory listing. Reviews and ratings must come from independent members: do not rate your own beers or venue, and do not offer incentives for reviews.

8. Pubs & bars directory

Venue owners may list a venue free of charge. A Featured listing is a paid upgrade with the price shown at purchase, billed yearly and renewing automatically until cancelled. You may cancel at any time; the listing stays featured until the end of the paid period. Because the listing goes live immediately, fees are not refundable except where the law requires it. Listings must be accurate and must describe a real, licensed venue. We may remove listings that are inaccurate, closed, duplicated or in breach of these terms. We do not verify venues and are not responsible for what happens there.

9. Our content

The guides, text, design, logo, photographs marked as ours and the structure of the site belong to Best Beer or our licensors and are protected by copyright. You may quote short extracts with a link and credit to best-beer.com. You may not copy, republish, scrape or use our content to train software without written permission. Brand names and logos belong to their owners and are used only to identify the beers we describe.

10. Links and affiliate relationships

The site links to breweries, shops and other websites we do not control, and some links are affiliate links that earn us a commission at no extra cost to you. Our affiliate disclosure explains how this works. We are not responsible for other sites, their products or their age checks.

11. Availability and changes

We aim to keep the site available but it may be interrupted for maintenance or reasons beyond our control. We may change or withdraw any part of the site, including the forum and the directory, at any time. We may update these terms; the date at the top shows the current version, and continuing to use the site after a change means you accept it.

12. Liability

The site is provided "as is". To the fullest extent the law allows, Best Beer is not liable for any loss or damage arising from your use of the site, from reliance on its content, from content posted by members, or from any venue, product or website you reach through it. Nothing in these terms limits liability that cannot be limited by law.

13. Governing law

These terms are governed by the laws of the State of Israel, where Best Beer is based, and disputes are subject to the courts of Israel, without prejudice to any consumer rights you have in your own country.

14. Contact

Questions about these terms: info@best-beer.com.