NEW ORLEANS — Big Easy Whiskey has named New Orleans hospitality and beverage industry veteran Carlos Quinonez as National Brand Ambassador and Market Manager, strengthening the brand’s team as it prepares to expand into new markets later this year.
Whether he’s behind a bar, hosting an event or sitting down with a distributor, Quinonez will be responsible for introducing hospitality professionals and consumers to the New Orleans-based whiskey brand. His work will include hosting events, meeting with distributors and introducing hospitality professionals and consumers to the New Orleans-based whiskey brand.
A born-and-raised New Orleanian, Quinonez brings more than 15 years of experience in the hospitality and beverage industry. His career has taken him through beverage program development, hospitality consulting and work with international spirits brands in New Orleans and abroad.
Quinonez’s experience includes work with the Adolfo Garcia Restaurant Group, Coquette, the Columns Hotel and Fives, where he helped build beverage programs rooted in New Orleans’ food and drinking culture.
“Big Easy Whiskey has created something that feels true to New Orleans while bringing a different perspective to the flavored whiskey category,” Quinonez said. “I’ve spent my career in New Orleans’ hospitality and beverage industry, so joining a brand that is authentically rooted in the city is a really exciting opportunity. 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.”
Most recently, Quinonez served as beverage director for the Turkey and the Wolf Group and helped develop Infhame, a New Orleans-inspired bar in Guadalajara, Mexico.
“From the beginning, we’ve wanted Big Easy Whiskey to be a brand that genuinely represents New Orleans, not simply one that comes from here. Carlos understands that distinction,” said Kieran Walsh, COO and blender of Big Easy Whiskey. “He has spent his career creating true New Orleans moments that are now woven into the fabric of this city’s experience. He brings an authenticity and credibility that simply cannot be manufactured. 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.”
Big Easy Whiskey – 4th Quarter Expansion
Quinonez’s appointment comes as Big Easy Whiskey prepares to expand into Tennessee in the fourth quarter through distribution partnerships with DET Beverage in Nashville and Athens Distributing Company in Knoxville and Chattanooga. The Tennessee launches will take Big Easy Whiskey beyond Louisiana, where the company says it is currently available at hundreds of bars, restaurants and retailers.
Big Easy Whiskey is a New Orleans-based brand producing a 5-year-aged American whiskey made from a traditional bourbon mash and infused with a blend of herbs, spices, botanicals and fruit. The company says the blend is designed to complement the whiskey rather than mask it with sweeter or single-note flavors.
