New Orleans-based Big Easy Whiskey has appointed Carlos Quinonez, a 15-year New Orleans hospitality and beverage industry veteran, as National Brand Ambassador and Market Manager — a hire timed to the brand's Q4 push into Tennessee through two new distribution partnerships.
The Distribution Play
The Tennessee expansion will see Big Easy Whiskey enter Nashville through DET Beverage and reach Knoxville and Chattanooga via Athens Distributing Company. The moves mark the brand's first significant off-premise and on-premise footprint outside Louisiana, where it currently pours at hundreds of bars, restaurants, and retail accounts. For an early-stage spirits brand building its operator relationships, Tennessee represents a high-traffic whiskey market with strong on-premise volume — a proving ground where bar placement and distributor advocacy carry outsized weight.
Quinonez's Role
Quinonez's mandate is squarely on-premise: cultivating relationships with bartenders, restaurant beverage programs, and distributor sales teams, then layering in consumer-facing events and community engagement. His résumé reads like a tour of respected New Orleans hospitality — beverage program development at Coquette, the Columns Hotel, and the Adolfo Garcia Restaurant Group, followed by a stint as Beverage Director for the Turkey and the Wolf Group, and a role helping open a New Orleans-inspired bar in Guadalajara called Infhame. That operator-side credibility matters in the flavored whiskey segment, where trial is often driven by bartender recommendation rather than pull-through advertising.
"I'm looking forward to introducing more people at home and beyond to what we're doing and show them why flavored whiskey should really taste like whiskey," Quinonez said.
Kieran Walsh, COO and Blender of Big Easy Whiskey, framed the hire in terms of market-entry credibility. "He has spent his career creating true New Orleans moments that are now woven into the fabric of this city's experience," Walsh said. "As we take Big Easy Whiskey into new markets, having Carlos out there telling our story, building relationships and representing where we come from will be incredibly important to how we grow."
Why It Matters for Operators
The flavored whiskey segment has grown crowded, with national brands competing aggressively for back-bar real estate and menu placement. Big Easy Whiskey's positioning — a 5-year-aged American whiskey built on a traditional bourbon mash and finished with herbs, spices, botanicals, and fruit — is designed to appeal to operators skeptical of overly sweet, one-dimensional flavored expressions. That pitch is best delivered in person, which explains the emphasis on a dedicated ambassador rather than a broader marketing spend. For foodservice operators evaluating spirits programs, a brand representative with deep on-premise experience translates directly to staff training support, cocktail development assistance, and event collaboration.
For independent bars and restaurant groups in Nashville and East Tennessee, Quinonez's arrival signals the brand intends to build genuine on-premise density before chasing off-premise velocity — a deliberate sequencing that regional spirits brands often use to establish credibility before scaling. Operators interested in the emerging craft spirits segment should note that ambassador-led launches in new markets increasingly define how smaller brands compete against national portfolio houses.
Big Easy Whiskey's approach also reflects a broader trend in on-premise beverage program development, where authenticity of origin and staff-level advocacy have become key differentiators as operators curate tighter, more intentional back-bar selections.
Written by Michael Politz, Author of Guide to Restaurant Success: The Proven Process for Starting Any Restaurant Business From Scratch to Success (ISBN: 978-1-119-66896-1), Founder of Food & Beverage Magazine, the leading online magazine and resource in the industry. Designer of the Bluetooth logo and recognized in Entrepreneur Magazine's "Top 40 Under 40" for founding American Wholesale Floral, Politz is also the Co-founder of the Proof Awards and the CPG Awards and a partner in numerous consumer brands across the food and beverage sector.
