Taylor Eason
Born and raised in Atlanta, Georgia, Taylor is a self-proclaimed Southern foodie. At 8-years-old, she dragged a stool up to the stove and cooked dinner for her family. During college in upstate New York, the nearby wine country lured her into a fascination with the fermented grape. She was hooked. After graduating, she enrolled at Ecôle Hotelière de Genève in Switzerland, a culinary management program that encouraged European wine country exploration. And explore she did… Italian, German and California vino/wein/wine.
For ten years, Taylor wrote a spunky, syndicated wine column and those educational articles populate this blog. But food always played the leading role. In recent years, developing healthy, plant-based recipes has moved to her forefront as some autoimmune medical issues arose. She’s passionate about health education and helping others on their journey to better health through food.
Once she moved to Sonoma County, California in 2011 to work in the wine business, vegetable gardening became a hobby that now regularly feeds her cooking addiction.
She still regularly treks the world stoking her obsession with food and wine. She’s visited every continent except that super cold one in the north, but that’s still on the table. To pay the bills, she owns a digital marketing agency called Cork & Fork Digital Marketing, which helps small- to mid-sized food and drink brands promote themselves online.
Contributors to TaylorEason.com
Robb Larsen
Robb Larson loves beer, especially craft beer, and is always in search of the elusive perfect pint. Expanding and refining his palate for nearly two decades now, he has been a beer aficionado and “Beer Dude” since the days of flannel and Nirvana. He enjoys talking and writing about beer, and of course drinking it as well.
When he’s not holding down a barstool at one of the Tampa Bay beer bars boring the locals, Robb likes to brew his own craft beer. Ironically, Robb also works hard as a personal trainer, helping and encouraging clients to reduce their beer belly. He lives in Clearwater, Florida with his sweetheart Lisa, their many cats, and his many homebrews.
Sean Ludford
Sean Ludford has been involved in the beverage industry for more than two decades (so it’s far too late to pursue a respectable career path.) He has an eclectic resumé including stints at restaurants, some of America’s top wine & spirit retailers, as a writer & reviewer, importer/distributor, and was once even lured to the South Pacific to help open a micro brewery.
Sean is a judge at some of the world’s most prestigious competitions including the San Francisco International Wine Competition and the San Francisco World Spirits Competition. Both are the largest and most prestigious of their kind in the USA. Ludford says, “Reviewing products is a tricky thing. It requires experience and an ability to put the beverages in context while always being fair.”
Today, Sean focuses on writing and educating. In 2006 he created BevX.com (Beverage Experts) a lifestyle web publication with a weighty beverage focus. BevX is a unique and independent voice in the world of wine, beer, and spirits punditry. Sean is also a regular contributor/columnist for several print magazines including, The Tasting Panel Magazine, Nightclub & Bar Magazine, Restaurant Hospitality, and several others. He speaks regularly on topics as diverse as Single Malts, Belgian Ales, Italian wines, and the vineyards of Bali (don’t get him going on that one). In his little spare time Sean enjoys cooking, hiking, reading, watching rugby, and seeking the perfect pint. If you see him out in his hometown of Chicago, buy him one. Check out Sean’s website, BevX.com
Raymond Hook
Raymond owns Raymond Hook Specialty, a New York-based company comprised of a small team of experts in their respective fields drawing on decades of national and international specialty food experience. Our team includes a specialty food authority, a global marketing CEO and a world-renowned chef. We work directly with specialty food producers to develop growth and marketing strategies that will ensure their success in today’s highly competitive marketplace. We have represented producers of artisanal cheese, charcuterie, baked items, chocolate, sauces, and wine and alcoholic beverages.