Jamaal Lemon is a 2023 James Beard Award-winning journalist, with two previous nominations in 2022 and 2023. He also won the North American Guild for Beer Writers Award in 2020 and 2022 and was a finalist for the International Association of Culinary Professionals Award in 2022. His work explores the connections between beer, climate change, and culture.

A native of Charleston, Jamaal’s passion for beer developed during an internship in Europe. He authored the award-winning article “Come Hell or High Water: How the Come Yahs & Bin Yahs Could End Sea Level Rise in Charleston,” which earned him the 2023 James Beard Award (Foodways). Additionally, his commentary “Mutated Anxieties” won the 2020 NAGBW Award, and his 2022 James Beard-nominated series “Tek Cyear Uh De Root” offers a historical and contemporary perspective on Charleston’s German Shutzenfest.

Jamaal is committed to social and environmental initiatives, collaborating with organizations such as Edmunds Oast Brewing Company, Lost Lagers, Good Beer Hunting, Saint Joseph’s University, and the Barrel and Flow Beer Festival in Pittsburgh, PA. He is a full-time writer and serves as a Board of Trustee Member at the Heurich House Museum in Washington, D.C.