Show HN: Feedback on my startup, a whiskey tasting site

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2777046

by mrgreenfur • 15 years ago

5 8 15 years ago

news.ycombinator.com

I've been working on this site (www.whiskeynotes.com) for a while and would love some feedback. It lets users browse whiskies, save their tastings, find places/events to drink whiskey and organize their next purchase. In the future I'd like to have some co-branded events and a recommendation engine.<p>I know it's a bit text-heavy -- I'm not a great graphic designer.<p>Does it make sense? Is it easy to use? Would you use it (if you like whiskey)? Thanks for any & all feedback!

revorad• 15 years ago

Looks good. Getting 502s on individual whiskey pages though - http://www.whiskeynotes.com/releases/Jameson-18-Year-Irish-W...

mrgreenfur4• 15 years ago

Ah crap, one second, I'll fix this...

mrgreenfur4• 15 years ago

All set. Sometimes bad character sets get in and borks that page. Should be good now. Thanks!

cmontgomeryb• 15 years ago

Nice timing, I'm in the process of replacing my beer snobbery with whiskey snobbery :) I needed something just like this, to help my find my way through the masses of new drinks out there.

JonLim• 15 years ago

Looks like I have a new site to start perusing in my spare time. :)

A couple questions:

- What language / framework did you build this on?

- Are you using a pre-built CMS?

mrgreenfur4• 15 years ago

Sorry for the delay, just noticed these replies. I built it using Ruby and a framework called Ramaze. I built it 100% from scratch, for better or for worse...

RobIsIT• 15 years ago

Overall, a nice idea. I'd have a very close look at what successful wine sites have done in this space. Allow the best of what they've done to influence your initial product.

Specifically:

1. Hire a designer. Based on your design, you're a programmer. You're likely a very good one. Stick to that, there's more money in it :) The words you've used and the general block layout you've created are well done, but you need to have the site styled up. Whiskey is sold based on style and your site will live or die in it.

2. This is a user generated content site but you're not promoting the ugen aspect of it. For example, check out this listing page: http://www.whiskeynotes.com/releases/Jameson-18-Year-Irish-W... Without registering, it should be blatantly obvious (and attractive) for the user to contribute photos, video, reviews and ratings. It should also be easy for users to provide feedback on other user reviews.

3. How can I see the highest rated whiskey's?

4. Is there a way for users to buy the whiskey directly from your website?

5. Have you called the sales reps at the whiskey companies that are highly rated? You should talk to them about how you can integrate your site in to their marketing. This extends beyond simple advertising. They will likely be happy to provide you with custom, unique photographs, direct people to add honest reviews, etc.

6. You should sell an regularly delivered document to whiskey industry folks. They'd be interested in a summary of reviews, ratings and trends. I'd do this from the start and charge a healthy monthly fee for it.

mrgreenfur4• 15 years ago

Ah, these are great suggestions - Thanks RobIsIT!

1. Good point. I will start lookign for one. 2. The generated content is really just whiskies and tastings. I don't really want people to contribute videos since I think that'll just add a lot of social-network style cruft. 3. The browse button automatically sorts by rating. I have toyed with the idea of adding a 'leaderboard', but never got around to it since the browse button is the same thing. Perhaps once there are more tasting it'll be more useful. 5. Don't I have to get more tastings first? 6. Yes. This is a great idea that I've seen other sites in the genre do.

Show HN: Feedback on my startup, a whiskey tasting site

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