Tiney Ricciardi
Tiney Ricciardi reports on the pleasures and cultures of Colorado’s “earthly delights” - beer, cannabis, psychedelics, food, entertainment and the outdoors - for The Denver Post. She blends beat reporting with feature writing, connecting local businesses, festivals and landscapes to how people eat, drink, relax and explore. Her work gives readers practical guidance on where to go and what to experience, while foregrounding the people, histories and policies behind those choices.
Beer, bars and agritourism in Colorado
Beer and drinking culture sit at the center of Ricciardi’s coverage, informed by her long-standing specialization in the craft brewing world.
She writes regularly about Colorado breweries and taprooms, from profiles of Belgian breweries closing downtown locations and expanding into the suburbs to roundups of destination-worthy farms where visitors can camp, drink and dine. Her stories trace how agritourism helps sustain small family farms and preserve rural legacies, showing how beer, food and overnight experiences are intertwined in the state’s rural economy.
Historical features, such as her piece on Colorado’s oldest bars that have operated since the 1800s, highlight enduring drinking institutions and the communities that grow around them. She also follows the business and emotional arc of breweries tied to high-profile events, including coverage of Atrevida Beer Co. as its owners prepared to close the Colorado Springs taproom associated with the Club Q shooting and look forward to a period of rest.
Ricciardi’s beer writing is grounded in expertise as well as reporting. She previously served as the first beer editor at The Dallas Morning News, where she covered the state’s emerging craft brewing landscape. In late 2020 she attained Beer Judge Certification and has pursued further formal training in beer evaluation, adding technical knowledge to her storytelling about breweries, styles and tasting culture.
Cannabis, psilocybin and other “earthly delights”
Alongside beer, Ricciardi covers cannabis, hemp and psychedelics as part of her self-described “earthly delights” beat. Her reporting spans policy, legality and human stories, such as a feature on a “mushroom rabbi” who grows ceremonial psilocybin for a Denver congregation and the legal gray areas that activity inhabits. She writes about figures like Charlotte Figi and the day set aside in her honor, explaining how the Colorado girl’s experience helped legitimize medical marijuana and reshape public attitudes toward cannabis.
Her professional biography notes that she joined The Denver Post in 2020 to cover all facets of Colorado’s cannabis industry, including policy and reform, market trends and entertainment, signaling a remit that combines regulatory coverage with cultural reporting.
Ricciardi’s broader professional profile underscores how this beat fits into a wider entertainment and lifestyle portfolio. She is recognized by the Society of Features Journalism and was honored as Arts and Entertainment Journalist of the Year by The Dallas Morning News in 2018, reflecting her strength in narrative features around culture and leisure. She co-founded and co-hosts the Grapes and Grain podcast, further anchoring her work in the intersection of beverage, culture and storytelling.
Hiking, leaf-peeping and Colorado travel guides
Outdoor coverage is another pillar of Ricciardi’s work, with The Denver Post listing her as an outdoors reporter.
Her hiking and travel stories focus on practical guidance and crowd-savvy choices, such as recommending lesser-known Colorado state parks for visitors tired of crowded destinations. She writes service-oriented pieces on mushroom foraging as a slower way to enjoy the outdoors, outlining why the pace and focus of foraging change how people experience nature.
Seasonal planning is a recurring thread, from gear sales to get readers ready for ski season to advice on assessing lightning risk when hiking Colorado’s 14ers. She tracks visitation trends across the state’s iconic peaks, noting when total visitation drops and linking those shifts to specific closures that alter trail patterns.
Ricciardi also produces detailed leaf-peeping guides, helping readers time their trips around peak fall colors along the Front Range and beyond. Her coverage explains how drought and other environmental factors affect when leaves turn gold, and warns about the risks of illegal parking in popular viewing areas, including the likelihood of tickets or tows. Broader travel features, such as a package on Colorado summer travel ideas - covering glamping, hot air ballooning, swimming and fishing - extend her outdoor beat into multi-activity itineraries that combine hiking with other leisure experiences.
Food scenes and reality entertainment
Food stories in Ricciardi’s portfolio focus on how specific businesses and communities shape the region’s dining landscape. She has reported on Colorado’s small but vibrant Cuban food scene, encouraging readers to go beyond the Cuban sandwich and highlighting local eateries that serve as a taste of home. Another feature introduces diners to Kwan Sang, the noodle company behind many popular Asian restaurants in the area, explaining how a largely unknown producer powers the dishes people encounter across the city.
She also writes service pieces spotlighting destinations like three Denver ice cream shops ranked among the nation’s most coveted by Yelp, tying national recognition to local spots and their appeal.
Ricciardi’s entertainment coverage leans heavily into reality television and live performance, closely tracking shows and stars with local connections.
She covers music news and concerts, including surprise moments such as Alanis Morissette joining Brandi Carlile on stage at Red Rocks and disruptive events like a country singer canceling a Ball Arena concert mid-set. Her television reporting follows reality franchises such as “Love Island USA,” from a Colorado-raised Paralympian turning heads on the show to a theatrical event that brings Casa Amor to Denver theaters. She profiles creative projects such as “Good Hang with Amy Poehler” and interviews high-profile figures like Trey Parker and Matt Stone about their decision to buy Casa Bonita, connecting national entertainment names to local institutions.
In another crossover, she writes about Denver chef Carrie Baird joining a new reality cooking competition, merging her food and entertainment beats into a single narrative.
Across these subjects, Ricciardi’s distinguishing trait is the way she threads expertise in beer and cannabis through service journalism on food, entertainment and the outdoors. Her stories consistently anchor big trends and pop culture moments in specific venues, producers and landscapes, giving readers a clear sense of where to go and who is shaping the experiences on offer.
4 more food journalists.
Aaron Guerrero
Aaron Guerrero is head of the digital department at Miami’s Community Newspapers, where he pairs restaurant coverage with community-facing content. He focuses on how Miami-area restaurants evolve, celebrate, and experiment through new concepts, menus, and neighborhood-focused dining experiences. He reports on restaurant openings, such as an Italian food hall at Plaza Coral Gables, new executive lunch menus, and wood-fired Latin steakhouse brunches, explaining what sets each venue apart. He also covers awards, like a Wine Spectator honor for an Italian chophouse, and events that turn dining rooms into social hubs. His bylines extend to features on sports-themed gatherings, civic renamings, local visits to restaurant programs, sponsored community pieces, and official notices. His work is straightforward and descriptive, helping readers and local businesses connect around specific openings, promotions, and dining experiences.
Aarron Fleming
Aarron Fleming reports on how courts, jails and public safety systems work over time. He is a reporter at The Daily Memphian covering public safety, the local court system, suburban news and business developments in North Mississippi. His work follows trials, sentencing, appeals, plea deals and judicial decisions, including major cases tied to Tyre Nichols and rapper Young Dolph. He also covers jail conditions, inmate deaths, crime data, prosecution units, trafficking, shootings and public-order incidents. His suburban reporting examines cannabis businesses, restaurant openings and how commercial growth affects communities such as Olive Branch. Fleming previously covered education in the same newsroom. He uses clear, unadorned prose to explain legal steps, deadlines, institutional problems and the political, commercial and community effects of public-safety decisions.
Alana Al-Hatlani
Alana Al-Hatlani is a food writer and editor who treats recipes, restaurants, and food features as ways to explore culture, community, and the business of eating. She works on the food team at Southern Living, overseeing and contributing to print recipes and reported features. Her pastry-focused, restaurant-tested perspective comes from time in restaurant and bakery kitchens. She helps plan and write monthly food packages, including “The South’s Most Treasured Desserts,” and wrote “8 Summer Recipes Our Editors Make Every Year.” She also writes recipe tips, ingredient explainers, restaurant guides, and reported stories about workers, owners, and communities. Her subjects include regional specialties, dining scenes, kitchen basics, and food industries. Her work has appeared with OpenTable and Yahoo. She reports on the ground, explains techniques clearly, and connects specific dishes and places to larger stories about food and livelihood.
Alana Edgin
Alana Edgin is a business reporter whose strongest focus is food, restaurants and consumer-facing businesses. She works at the Lubbock Avalanche-Journal and has also had work syndicated across AOL and Yahoo News. She covers new openings, closings, expansions and franchise growth, along with retail, health, services, corporate news, data incidents, business support programs and sponsorships. Her reporting includes detailed roundups of new restaurants and businesses, coverage of El Pollo Loco’s opening, and stories on burger trucks, dessert shops, Vietnamese sandwich restaurants and gourmet markets. She also contributes to food and drink reviews, including fall coffee and jerky comparisons. Edgin reports with practical “what, when, where” details, structured comparisons and clear explanations of how offers, partnerships and business changes affect consumers and the local economy.