About Us - PUNCH

Welcome to Punch. We’re a James Beard Award-winning media brand dedicated to drinks and drinking culture.

We fell in love with drinks because they weren’t just another way to catch a buzz, but a means to discover the sense of “place” ingrained into a region over centuries—or a peek into a specific era and its ambitions. In America, our invention of the cocktail may not have the sanction of ages that Europe’s history with wine has, but guess what: Our early penchant for mixing wines and spirits, tossing them in a glass and turning it into entertainment—it’s ours. Some might call it adulteration; we’d call it the very spirit of reinvention and experimentation that has come to define America itself.

Our goal is to capture the ethos that’s driving drinks forward: the connection of beverage to tradition and place, the passion to innovate and, yes, fun. We also believe that the wine, cocktail, beer and spirits worlds share more in common than they probably realize. We’ve brought them together in order to shine a light on the many places where their values are entwined. We hope you dig it.

Stories We Are Looking For
We’re interested in exploring drinking culture from all angles including its connection to tradition, place, people and innovation. We have a great fondness for unusual characters, fringe movements, unsung traditions and overlooked haunts reported from the farthest flung corners of the world. Stories should be narrative-driven and thoroughly reported.

Some of our favorite stories from the past few years include The Last Pulque Dons of Apan about the revival of Mexico’s once-prized alcoholic beverage, The Quiet Defiance of Decibel about New York’s pioneering punk-rock sake bar and Let Us Now Retire the Whiskey Woman. These are our most popular stories from 2022.

We are open to pitches for existing rubrics, too, such as A Night at the Door, Master the Classics, Hack Your Drink, High Concept and OGs.

A Night at the Door: A Q&A with three bouncers from a specific city, neighborhood or sector of nightlife, e.g. Three Hollywood Bouncers, Three Memphis Bouncers, etc.

Master the Classics: Profiles of bartenders seeking perfection in a single cocktail. These should feature bartenders that have a genuine affinity for a particular classic cocktail and have dedicated significant time and thought to their interpretation of it.

Hack Your Drink: A short-form look at clever bartending techniques that make the process of drink-making easier. These should originate at professional bars, but can be applied by home bartenders.

High Concept : A behind-the-scenes look at some of the world’s most innovative bars through the lens of a single signature drink.

The OGs: Profiles of veteran bartenders that have been in the business for decades at a particular bar.

Stories We Are Not Looking For
New product launches or reviews (unless they have a tie-in to a relevant trend), listicles (“Five Reasons the Negroni Is Overrated”) and stories in which the angle is that a woman/women is/are distilling/making wine/brewing. We love that women are occupying these positions in greater numbers, but this is not an angle for us. However, if someone is doing something particularly innovative and that someone happens to be a woman, we’d love to hear about it. Other stories to avoid: Holiday-centric content (“Five Cocktails Your Valentine Is Sure to Say Yes To,” “10 Whiskey Drinks for Father’s Day”), stories drawn from press trips, single producer profiles (unless their work is groundbreaking or otherwise of particular note) and personal essays that do not have a peg or angle.

What Does a Punch Pitch Look Like?
A well-written paragraph or two that conveys your point of view and why you are the right person to write this story. Please tell us what your angle is, who you plan to talk to and where you plan to go. We appreciate reporters who report. Pre-reporting is important too; tell us what the thing is about before you pitch. If you’re new to us, please send clips that best illustrate the kind of writing you want to do for Punch.

Recipes We Are Looking For
While many of our recipes are tied to published features, we do consider submissions on a case-by-case basis. Recipes we feature tend to have a compelling backstory and often tie into a relevant drinking trend, spotlighting a particular ingredient—gochujang syrup, for instance—or technique. The recipe should be replicable for our readers, so ingredients need to be available across the United States, and the directions should not require any bar tools or techniques that are inaccessible to the average home bartender. To submit an original cocktail for consideration, please email editorial@punchdrink.com. In addition to the recipe itself (including ingredient quantities and directions) please include the inspiration behind the drink as well as a photo of the cocktail (cell phone shots are fine) for additional context. Feel free to browse our recipe archive to get a sense of the recipes we have featured in the past.

Where to Send Pitches
The best way to reach us is by emailing editorial@punchdrink.com. This will ensure your pitch reaches the entirety of our editorial team. Please include “pitch” in the subject line so we don’t miss it. No attachments please.

Check to make sure Punch (or another publication) has not already covered the topic. While we always try to respond to outside pitches, it’s not always possible.

Thanks so much, and happy pitching,

Punch