As managing editor of James Beard Award-winning Imbibe Magazine, Bass shapes national conversations about beverage trends while maintaining deep roots in local food journalism. Her work consistently explores three core themes:
Penelope Bass has cultivated a career defined by curiosity about how people connect through shared experiences, particularly within food and drink culture. Her journey began in community journalism at Flagstaff Live and Mountain Living Magazine (2007–2011), where she honed skills in arts reporting and lifestyle curation. This dual role allowed her to explore the interplay between local culture and broader trends—a theme that would define her later work.
“The best stories emerge when we follow the threads connecting a cocktail’s ingredients to the hands that crafted it.”
This 2025 deep dive into the non-alcoholic spirits revolution exemplifies Bass’s ability to identify cultural shifts early. Through blind tastings with industry experts and consumer focus groups, she analyzes how brands like Lyre’s and Ritual Zero Proof are redefining social drinking. The article’s impact led to Imbibe launching an annual NA Spirits Awards category.
Bass’s six-month investigation into this much-hyped spirit showcases her commitment to thorough reporting. By interviewing distillers in Martinique and tracking the rum’s supply chain challenges, she creates a masterclass in balancing critical analysis with celebratory writing about craft spirits.
During her Willamette Week tenure, Bass’s 2017 guidebook-style feature mapped the city’s underground food cart pods to high-end cocktail lounges. This work remains a template for urban gastronomic journalism, blending hard data about economic impacts with vivid portraits of local entrepreneurs.
Bass consistently elevates stories that connect local producers to international trends. A successful pitch might explore how Mexican vanilla growers are influencing New York cocktail menus, mirroring her approach in the 2023 piece “Oaxacan Mezcal’s Brooklyn Renaissance.”
Her 2024 series on sober bar communities demonstrates interest in how drinking cultures intersect with wellness trends. Pitches should foreground data on demographic shifts rather than personal anecdotes.
The 2022 investigation “Barrel-Aged Inequality” revealed pay disparities in craft distilleries, showing her commitment to workers’ stories. Supply chain analyses or worker-cooperative innovations make strong angles here.
At PressContact, we aim to help you discover the most relevant journalists for your PR efforts. If you're looking to pitch to more journalists who write on Food, here are some other real estate journalist profiles you may find relevant:
