A native of the San Francisco Bay Area, Eric Zandona studied History at San Francisco State University (BA '06, MA '12), and dabbles as a homebrewer and amateur winemaker. In 2013, he created EZdrinking as a platform to share stories and experiences around spirits. At that time, he also began working for the American Distilling Institute for which he edited, and contributed to four books on distilled spirits. In 2017, Eric and his family moved from San Francisco, CA to begin a yearlong residency in Oaxaca drinking, and learning about Mexican gin, rum, whiskey, and agave spirits.

Eric has become a leading voice in American craft sprits, and regularly speaks about spirits before consumers, producers, and regulators, both in the US and Internationally. This includes serving as the organizer and speaker for ADI’s annual Whiskey Summit which attracts distillers from around the world. Eric has received multiple recognitions for his work. In 2018, Eric was a shortlist nominee for the International Wine and Spirits Competition's Spirits Communicator of the Year Award. And his books The Bourbon Bible, and The Tequila Dictionary were both selected by the Tales of the Cocktail Awards Committee as Top 10 Nominees for Best New Book on Drinks Culture, History or Spirits.