About Liquor.com

Liquor.com

Liquor.com is a website covering cocktails, spirits, and bartending, dedicated to the proposition that everyone can learn to drink better. Founded in 2009 by Kit Codik (also reported as Keith Codik), who led the business as CEO until its acquisition, the site spent a decade as an independent voice in drinks media before being acquired by Dotdash — the IAC-owned publisher formerly known as About.com — in October 2019. Under Dotdash (now part of Dotdash Meredith), Liquor.com has grown into one of America's leading drinks publications, reaching millions of readers per month with cocktail recipes, spirits education, industry news, and buying guides. The site's accolades include the Tales of the Cocktail Spirited Award for Best Cocktail & Spirits Publication and a James Beard Foundation award for its "How to Make a Cocktail" video series — recognition of its dual commitment to editorial excellence and practical instruction.

Founding by Kit Codik

Kit Codik founded Liquor.com in 2009 and served as its CEO for a decade. Codik brought an unusual background to drinks media: before Liquor.com, he co-founded and helped build Finacity Corporation, a world leader in trade receivables securitization; co-founded Green Lake Group, an early-stage advisory firm specializing in business development, partnerships, fundraising, and digital marketing for startups; headed the corporate venture capital firm eVolution Global Partners; and began his career at Gap Inc., where he led global sourcing and manufacturing. This operator's résumé shaped Liquor.com's development: Codik built the site as a real business from the start, growing it over ten years into an acquisition target for one of America's largest digital publishers. His favorite drink, he has said, is a Mezcal Negroni — and his favorite bar the NoMad Bar in New York.

Mission: Helping People Drink Better

"Our mission has always been to help people drink better," as the company's leadership has put it — and that mission organizes everything Liquor.com publishes. The site inspires, entertains, and educates anyone interested in what happens in the glass and out of it. Its core content includes cocktail recipes (from bar-level classics like the Negroni, Old Fashioned, and Martini to original creations), spirits education (guides to whiskey, gin, tequila, rum, and beyond), bartending techniques, industry news, and buying guides. The editorial voice is authoritative but welcoming: professional-grade knowledge translated for home bartenders. For over a decade, the site has helped millions of readers make better drinks at home — a practical, service-oriented mission that distinguishes it from more literary drinks publications.

The Dotdash Acquisition

In October 2019, Dotdash acquired Liquor.com from founder Kit Codik. Dotdash — the digital publisher IAC built from the remnants of About.com, overseen by CEO Neil Vogel — was in the midst of a notable acquisition spree, having picked up Byrdie and MyDomaine from Clique Media and the Brides brand from Condé Nast earlier that year. Fast Company, profiling Dotdash's stealthy growth, noted the company was expanding while other digital media companies were faltering: revenue doubled to $170 million in 2019, driven by advertising and e-commerce. Liquor.com fit Dotdash's portfolio of service-oriented lifestyle brands — alongside Verywell, Investopedia, The Spruce, and Simply Recipes — bringing drinks expertise to a company built on "super articles" that synthesize prose, video, and imagery around readers' obsessions. Codik stayed involved post-acquisition as head of Dotdash Ventures.

Content and Editorial Approach

Liquor.com's content blends recipes, education, and journalism. Its recipe database — hundreds of tested cocktail recipes with precise specs, techniques, and photography — is the site's backbone and a top search destination for drink queries. Around it, the editorial team publishes spirits explainers, trend stories, industry news, and buying guides, all produced with Dotdash's rigorous editorial standards. The site's video content has been particularly distinguished: its "How to Make a Cocktail" series won the James Beard Foundation's Broadcast and New Media Award for Video Webcast in 2013, recognizing excellence in drinks education on video. The editorial approach reflects Dotdash's service-journalism philosophy: anticipate what readers want to know, answer it authoritatively, and make it actionable.

Awards and Industry Standing

Liquor.com's trophy case reflects its standing with both culinary and drinks institutions. The site won the Tales of the Cocktail Spirited Award for Best Cocktail & Spirits Publication in 2012, and was nominated for the same award in 2020, 2021, and 2022, as well as for Best Cocktail & Spirits Writing in 2020. Its James Beard Foundation award for the "How to Make a Cocktail" video series (2013) recognized its pioneering video work. These honors — from the drinks industry's most prestigious awards body and American food media's highest institution — testify to the site's unusual achievement: being simultaneously a mass-market service publication and a critically respected editorial voice. Few drinks sites have managed both.

The Liquor.com Store

In 2021, Liquor.com launched its standalone online store — the first standalone e-commerce store from Dotdash — selling barware curated by the site's editorial team: wine glasses, tumblers, decanters, jiggers, cocktail shakers, mixing glasses, and the Liquor.com Cocktail Kit, an all-in-one box with a Yarai mixing glass, Koriko Hawthorne strainer, weighted shaking tins, and square ice cube tray. Every item, the company said, was something its editors actually use and love. The store was described as "a natural extension" of the mission to help people drink better: readers who learned to make cocktails from the site's recipes could now buy the tools to make them well. The launch reflected Dotdash's broader e-commerce strategy — turning service content into commerce — applied to the drinks category.

Audience and Reach

Liquor.com reaches millions of readers per month — the company has cited nearly four million monthly readers in the U.S. — spanning cocktail enthusiasts, home bartenders, and professional bartenders. Its search dominance for cocktail recipes makes it a first stop for anyone wondering how to make a drink; its editorial content retains them. The audience includes both the curious novice ("what's in a Negroni?") and the committed hobbyist (comparing mezcals, perfecting technique). Under Dotdash Meredith — formed by IAC's Dotdash acquisition of Meredith Corporation — the site sits within one of America's largest digital publishing portfolios, giving it resources and reach far beyond what its independent era could support.

Place in Drinks Media

In the ecosystem of drinks media, Liquor.com occupies the service pole: where Punch offers literary drinks writing and VinePair offers cultural commentary, Liquor.com offers answers. Its recipe database, technique guides, and buying advice make it the most practically useful of the major drinks sites — the one readers visit with a bottle in hand and a question in mind. This utility-first positioning, backed by Dotdash's SEO and editorial machinery, has made it one of the most-visited drinks sites in America. The site's decade-plus archive represents an enormous body of tested, reliable drinks knowledge — a public resource for cocktail culture.

Liquor.com Today

Today, Liquor.com continues to publish at liquor.com as part of the Dotdash Meredith portfolio, covering cocktails, spirits, bartending, and drinks culture for millions of monthly readers. From its 2009 founding by a securitization entrepreneur with a passion for good drinks, through a decade of independent growth, to its place within one of America's largest digital publishers, the site has held to its founding mission: helping people drink better. Whether through a perfectly specced Negroni recipe, a video demonstrating technique, or a guide to building a home bar, Liquor.com remains what it set out to be — the internet's most reliable bartender. Its official website is https://www.liquor.com.