Staff List and Contact Information
About the Staff
Get to know our talented writing and editing team
Christopher Null, Publisher and Editor in Chief
A veteran journalist, the author of three books, a published poet, and an award-winning winemaker, Christopher Null has more than 20 years of experience writing about wine and spirits. He founded Drinkhacker in 2007 as part of Null Media, a publishing company that provides editorial and content strategy services. He also writes regularly about the science of booze for Wired and is an occasional contributor to ADI's Distiller magazine. He has been a judge for both the American Distilling Institute Judging of Craft Spirits and Whiskies of the World spirits competitions and often works as a consultant, developing formal tasting notes for spirits brands around the world.
Location: Austin, TX
Email: [email protected]
Beats: General inquiries and announcements, all spirits, wine, drinking science
Favorite cocktail: Mai Tai
Drew Beard, Assistant Editor and Newsletter Editor
Drew Beard isn't sure how he became Assistant Editor at Drinkhacker, but he knows that he's had quite a lot to drink ever since. In addition to writing and editing for the finest spirits website in all the land, he operates a small hotel outside of Washington, D.C., in Virginia wine country (yes, it's a thing). Drew is a Certified Specialist in Spirits and Executive Bourbon Steward, among other booze-related merit badges, and he edits our weekly Newsletter with a fervor that has no equal.
Location: Washington, DC
Email: [email protected]
Beats: Whiskey, rum, tequila/mezcal, cocktail recipes
Favorite Cocktail: Black Manhattan
Rob Theakston, Editor at Large
Rob Theakston spent the better part of his misspent youth as an Associate Editor at Allmusic.com and has since retreated to a life of whimsical academic work at the University of Kentucky. He divides his ample leisure time between the fine communities of Ypsilanti, Michigan and Lexington, Kentucky. He still writes for Drinkhacker, as he does not believe he would be allowed to write about booze anywhere else.
Location: Lexington, KY
Email: [email protected]
Beats: Whiskey, wine, coffee, book reviews, beer
Favorite cocktail: Osborn
Frank Dobbins, Social Media Manager and Writer
Frank Dobbins is a spirits writer generally known for being the most handsome man from Newark, NJ after placing one spot ahead of Michael B. Jordan in a local poll. After an early adulthood spent cultivating his palate with some of the worst alcoholic beverages available to him, he's since shifted his focus to some of the finest spirits in the world. Thanks to this pursuit he now encourages anyone interested in America's native spirit not to curb their enthusiasm, but rather to bourb' their enthusiasm.
Location: Orange, NJ
Email: [email protected]
Beats: Whiskey, rum, tequila, ready-to-drink
Favorite cocktail: Paper Plane
Robert Lublin, Writer
A theatre professor by day and a libations enthusiast by night, Robert spends his time teaching class, taking care of his children, or at the bar. He lives near Boston, Massachusetts with his wife, twin daughters, and Sonny, the golden retriever. In addition to writing for Drinkhacker, he has published two books on Shakespeare as well as numerous articles and book chapters on theatre history, Frankenstein, and The Evil Dead. His hobbies include collecting whiskeys, watching ridiculous movies, running, and practicing Kenpo karate, in which he holds a black belt.
Location: Medford, MA
Email: [email protected]
Beats: Whiskey, beer, wine, tequila
Favorite Cocktail: Manhattan
David Tao, Writer
David Thomas Tao (he/him) is an entrepreneur, editor, and voice actor based in New York City. He is the CEO of BarBend.com, a media brand that provides multi-platform coverage of news, analysis, training, and opinion in strength training and sports. David is a 2019 Forbes 30 Under 30 list maker for Media and a Founding Member of the Rolling Stone Culture Council. David is a proud Kentucky native with a (nearly) lifelong love for bourbon and American whiskey culture.
Location: Brooklyn, NY
Email: [email protected]
Beats: Whiskey, cocktail recipes, travel
Favorite cocktail: Brown Derby
Monica Uhm, Writer
Monica Uhm is an incurable dilettante who has been dabbling most consistently as an international tax specialist, recording singer-songwriter and coffee shop loiterer - sometimes contemporaneously. Inevitably, she has channeled her bottomless enthusiasm for discovery into the intriguing eclectic expanding universe of bourbons, engaging in bourbon-banter at every opportunity.
Location: Westchester County, NY
Email: [email protected]
Beats: Bourbon, ready-to-drink, hard seltzers
Favorite cocktail: Whiskey Sour
Robert Strohmeyer, Writer
Robert Strohmeyer has been writing about spirits, wine, and food since 2001. A frequent denizen of Northern California wineries and distilleries, he is at home with a glass of small-batch whisky as with a Napa Valley Cab. He loves crafting tiki cocktails, roasting coffee, cooking slow and low barbecue, baking artisan breads, and occasionally brewing beer.
Location: Danville, CA
Email: [email protected]
Beats: Rum, wine, beer
Favorite cocktail: Mai Tai
Clay Tolbert, Writer
Clay is a professional shot-slinger and expert level mint spanker. He currently works in fine dining after a decade-plus long career in kitchens, breweries, and bars at all gradients of fancy. While plumbing the depths of booze lore, he hopes to exact his literary revenge on the bestowers of the human condition.
Location: Culpeper, VA
Email: [email protected]
Beats: Cocktails, bartending, whiskey, amari, beer
Favorite cocktail: Negroni
Jonathan Glover, Writer
Jonathan grew up in rural Virginia where he sheared sheep, read books, trapped varmints and played approximately 6,000 hours of the Nintendo Entertainment System. This assemblage of formative experiences has led to adulthood stints in video games journalism, playtesting, coaching soccer, whole animal butchery, fine dining, recipe development, and writing about whiskey. His current and forever preoccupations include good pizza, hazmat bourbon, and the stone cold TurboGrafx-16 classic, Devil's Crush. He currently lives in a lightly crumbling Coca-Cola bottling plant with his wife and cat.
Location: Winchester, VA
Email: [email protected]
Beats: A little of everything
Favorite cocktail: New York Sour
How to Reach Us
General editorial or business inquiries may be sent via email to [email protected].
Submission information for wineries, breweries, and distilleries looking to send product for review can be found here.