David Wondrich

A former English professor, his long-time interest in the arcana surrounding Spirits and cocktails led him to leave academia to become Esquire Magazine's drinks correspondent, and later senior drinks columnist at the Daily Beast.

David has written four books on drinks: Esquire Drinks; Killer Cocktails; Imbibe! (the first cocktail book to win a James Beard award); and Punch.

He is the editor-in-chief of the Oxford Companion to Spirits & Cocktails. It won the American Library Association’s prestigious Dartmouth Medal for the year’s best reference book.

According to the Washington Post: “If Imbibe!, Wondrich’s 2007 cocktail book and biography of bartender Jerry Thomas, didn’t officially father modern drinks writing, it at least uncled it. Wondrich has since become a globe-trotting knowledge resource for the drinks industry around the world.”

He also hosted the podcast Life Behind Bars with noted Spirits and cocktails expert Noah Rothbaum, which won the 2018 and the 2021 Tales of the Cocktail Spirited Award for Best Podcast Series.