I’m a food, beverage, outdoors and travel writer based in Salt Lake City. My background includes writing and editing works about culinary history, cocktail culture, historical archaeology, wildlife conservation and recreational tourism in the American West.

My freelance writing and photography have been featured in local, regional and national publications, and I’m a frequent City Weekly drinks writer with the enviable title "Booze Baroness” of SLC. My work covering Utah’s food and beverage scene has won multiple Society of Professional Journalists’ “Top of the Rockies” awards, an example of how my favorite stories feature food and beverage artisans’ passion and pride in creating delicious and memorable products. I’ve been honored to serve as a bartending and restaurant judge for competitions ranging from slope side Bloody Mary face-offs to national organizations recognizing culinary excellence.

I’ve lived on both coasts and everywhere in between, although my formative eating and drinking years were spent in Kentucky, Ohio and Tennessee. My B.A. is in Anthropology and Sociology from Rhodes College in Memphis. I completed a M.A. in History and Public History at Arizona State University and continued doctoral work in Western US History and Public History at ASU (current status: ABD) before moving to Salt Lake City in 2005. 

Home is now the Wasatch Mountain foothills with my husband, two grown sons, some very spoiled backyard chickens and a couple of goofy Labradors. In addition to freelance writing, I’m incredibly fortunate to be Communications Coordinator for the stellar Utah Division of Wildlife Resources Conservation Outreach team, where I write and edit the annual fishing and hunting guidebooks, supervise the creative content team, edit the DWR’s wildlife blog and wild fish & game recipes collection, and am a backup Public Information Officer.

When not clacking away at my keyboard, I’m happiest puttering in the garden, developing recipes, casting a fly rod on a nearby mountain stream or catching some turns on a powder day. A great day ends with lounging in my overgrown garden while reading some historical fiction and enjoying a Boulevardier cocktail.

Darby’s email

Darby is one of the most dependable, talented, deadline-hitting writers I’ve ever had the pleasure of working with as a magazine editor. Her writing is utterly professional while also being creatively entertaining, and her work is always impeccably researched. In addition, Darby is an excellent photographer, which helped streamline story assignments for me as an editor.

Oh, and you couldn’t find a more pleasant and amiable person to work with. In a perfect world, I’d have an entire stable of Darby Doyles as my writing staff. 

—Ted Scheffler, Food, Travel, Wine & Culture Writer and Editor