Our Commitment to Anti-Racism

To end racism, we must fight actively against it. Leadership has to come from every source of power and today especially from businesses. As a cocktails and spirits website, we believe that we can best address this and make a lasting difference by focusing on the people we work with, who we pay and what we choose to publish.

Dismantling racism demands accountability. As a brand and as a team, we’re making a pledge to our readers to do our work differently and disrupt the status quo. Our diversity pledge is a plan to more fully reflect diversity; our definition of “diversity” refers to that of race, culture, gender identity, sexual orientation, age, geography, body type and ability. 

We hope you will hold us accountable in our efforts to examine our privilege and the injustices ingrained within the hospitality and spirits industries themselves, as well as create inclusive content that is respectful and accurate and speaks to readers with a variety of experiences and identities.

Update as of May 2021:

  • We committed to increase representation and diversity through the stories we tell and who tells them. By December, we had met the goal of having at least 25% of our new written and visual site content be created by BIPOC. And since December, we have increased stories addressing racism and inclusivity by 20% and are focused on giving a platform to all underrepresented groups. Topics have included decolonizing the whitewashed world of Caribbean rum, addressing the hospitality industry’s diversity problem, and combating ableism in bars and restaurants. 
  • We committed to working to reduce bias in our site content and pledged to review more content to make sure it appropriately acknowledges and celebrates the cultural origins of recipes and spirits. We have now reviewed content that accounts for 70% of our site traffic and have revised it accordingly where it was needed. Over the next two quarters, we will focus on reviewing and improving content on key topics for the spirits world like colonialism and spirits production.
  • We committed to review our past social media content to address bias, tokenism and appropriation and increase representation and engage marginalized communities in a lasting way. We completed an audit of our content on social media channels from 2020 as a strategy for learning where we have not lived up to our values and editorial standards, taking accountability for it and making real improvements.
  • By the end of 2021, we commit to partnering with an external organization aligned with our focus on inclusion and diverse representation within the spirits and hospitality industry.

Update as of December 2020:

  • We committed to having at least 25% of our new written and visual site content be created by BIPOC by September 30. We have met this goal and will continue to increase representation and diversity through the stories we tell and who tells them. 
  • We committed to working to reduce bias in our site content and pledged to review content that accounts for 50% of our site traffic, making sure it appropriately acknowledges and celebrates the cultural origins of recipes and spirits by November 30. We have met this goal and also expanded our editorial guidelines to further address and prevent bias in our content. 
  • We committed to amplifying and normalizing the work of Black members of the drinks community on our social media platforms and having at least 20% of our Instagram stories feature BIPOC spirits and drinks professionals by September 30. We have met this goal. We are reviewing our past content and have expanded our editorial guidelines to include social content and outreach practices, focused on preventing bias, tokenism and appropriation. We will continue to increase representation and engage marginalized communities in a lasting way.

 Commitment from June 2020:

  • We will actively recruit and promote Black and POC writers and drinks professionals to report stories, develop recipes and create visuals. By September 30, we pledge that at least 25% of our new written and visual content will be created by BIPOC. 
  • We will amplify and normalize the work of Black members of the drinks community on our social media platforms. By September 30, at least 20% of our Instagram stories will feature BIPOC drinks professionals.
  • We will consciously work to reduce unconscious bias in our content. By November 30, we pledge to review content that accounts for 50% of our traffic to make sure it appropriately acknowledges and celebrates the cultural origins of recipes and spirits. 
  • We will post about our work for each quarter to update you on our progress.

We will continue to focus on diversity and inclusivity in our photographs and illustrations that have been created by majority BIPOC contributors. We will also provide a platform for the honest conversations that have long been overdue. And we commit to creating an environment where BIPOC staff members can build careers, advance and feel supported. 

These goals will keep evolving and expanding over time. We look forward to hearing from our readers and listeners about how we can continue to improve. 

Sincerely,
Team Liquor.com
Eric, Alexis, Nadia, Kathryn, Todd, Brooke