Who is Beer Reporter Joe Sixpack?

"Calling 'Joe Sixpack' a beer column...

is like calling Mike Royko's a tavern column or A.J. Leibling a boxing writer. Like all the best columns, Joe Sixpack is about people and place."

-American Journalism Review

He's Don Russell, an award-winning Philadelphia writer with more than 30 years in the newspaper racket.

Over the years, he's written about crooked pols, stupid criminals and a flying pig. His reports led to the federal government’s first-ever environmental racketeering prosecution, the closure of a county jail, the reform of the Philadelphia taxicab industry, numerous criminal indictments and a highly publicized face-off with the Philadelphia Eagles that eventually allowed fans to bring hoagies into the Eagles’ new football stadium.

And like any decent newsman, he managed to expense his personal lifestyle, which in Russell's case means beer...

Lots of it.

Today, under his more familiar byline, Beer Reporter Joe Sixpack, Russell is one of America's best-known beer writers. He has written a weekly beer column for the Philadelphia Daily News for 15 years.

He's the author of 3 books:

"Joe Sixpack's Philly Beer Guide: A Reporter's Notes on the Best Beer-Drinking City in America" (Camino Books).

"Christmas Beer : The Cheeriest, Tastiest, Most Unusual Beers of Christmas" (Rizzoli Universe).

"What the Hell am I Drinking?" (CreateSpace).

Russell has traveled to Belgium, France, Iceland, Israel, Austria, Germany, Norway, the Caribbean and throughout the United States and Canada in search of great beer, and great stories.

He has won numerous awards for his beer columns, including 20 Quill & Tankard trophies from the North American Beer Writers Guild. In 2002 and 2006, he was named Beer Writer of the Year at the Great American Beer Festival.

His reports in Philadelphia about beer shortages at Veterans Stadium led to a government investigation and, ultimately, a price reduction for fans. He counts among his greatest thrills the standing ovation he received on Opening Day 1999 at the ballpark, the day the beer prices were slashed.

Russell is a founder and the executive director of Philly Beer Week, a non-profit organization promoting the beer scene in Philadelphia. Founded in 2008, it is the largest beer celebration of its kind, with 1,000 separate festivals, dinners, tastings, tours and educational over 10 days in June.

Russell, 56, lives in Philadelphia with his wife, Theresa Conroy, a certified yoga therapist and studio operator, and their Siberian Husky, Karma.

Joe Sixpack press