About Alyson

Alyson Sheppard is a food, beverage and travel writer whose work regularly appears in the pages of Robb Report, Esquire, Playboy and more. She is also an editor and staff writer for Mobile, Alabama’s alt-weekly newspaper, Lagniappe, and a contributing writer to Wildsam’s Field Guide to the Gulf Coast.

In 2021, the Society of Professional Journalists presented her with a Green Eyeshade Award for her coverage of Mardi Gras in Mobile. That same year, her booze column in Lagniappe, “Beer and Loathing,” was named a finalist for the Association of Alternative Newsmedia’s (AAN) Award for Food Writing. In 2020, the Alabama Press Association (APA) named her the best feature writer in the state.

In 2017, she was a top-four finalist for the Tales of the Cocktail (TOTC) Spirited Award for Best Cocktail & Spirits Writer. Also that year, she was a top-three finalist for the International Association of Culinary Professionals (IACP) Award for best Narrative Beverage Writing.

Previously, she served as the publisher and editor-in-chief of Edible Lower Alabama, the only magazine dedicated to food, drink and culture from Montgomery to Mobile. In its inaugural year, the magazine was presented with two first place and one second place editorial awards from the APA. Before taking that role, she was a contributing editor for Playboy.com, where she helped relaunch the website as "safe for work." She was also the first cocktail bar critic in the country and she produced the YouTube series Bartender Confidential, which has 10 million+ views.

Originally from Lower Alabama, Alyson attended Boston University and then got her first real magazine job as a fact-checker in New York. She has appeared on the mastheads of Popular Mechanics, National Geographic Adventure (r.i.p.), CITY (r.i.p.), Us Weekly and more.

She currently lives in Mobile, Alabama, with her worse half, a couple of cute kids, a very bad dog and a tiki mug shaped like Ernest Hemingway's head.