James Liska is a food & beverage writer based in Washington, D.C. He is the founder and editor of ‘Sip and Puff’, a long-running blog about wine, beer, spirits, and the occasional cigar, and he current contributes to various DC-based media organizations.

Past experience includes several years as a restaurant & mixology writer for District Fray Magazine, as general manager and distilled spirits director for a specialty bottle shop, work as a private chef-de-cuisine, and as creative lead for custom cocktail programs. He holds a Level II Award in Spirits (with distinction) from the Wine & Spirits Education Trust and completed PernodRicard’s BarSmarts program. 

He got his start in hospitality working under the late Don Reid, famed innkeeper at Connecticut’s historic Butternut Farm Bed & Breakfast.