This Chef Is Passionate About His Barrel Picks

Erik Niel owns three restaurants in Chattanooga, Tennessee, and he’s passionate about whisky— especially exclusive barrel picks. He offers more than 20 private barrel selections at his venues—Easy Bistro & Bar, Main Street Meats, and Little Coyote—and plans to expand that repertoire. What started as a hobby to stock unique whiskeys at his bars has turned into a full-on passion.

Niel has a culinary degree from Johnson & Wales University, where his training included wine service and knowledge, but not much on whiskey. It wasn’t until he opened his first solo restaurant, Easy Bistro & Bar, in 2005 that he began focusing on the bar—and started tasting whiskeys. After that, he was hooked. “Having a background in culinary and wine helped me understand my palate, the nose, and how to think about tastings, which helped me develop an appreciation for whiskey,” Niel says. “I was fortunate to get into it on the earlier side of the bourbon boom.”

Niel started making whiskey a focus at his bars 20 years ago, and that continues to shape his business today. Early on, he delighted in buying bourbons that no one knew about. He recalls that in 2009 at Easy Bistro, he used to offer a Buffalo Trace flight that included 1-ounce pours of every Antique Collection label for $30. “People would say, ‘why would I pay $30 for 5 ounces of whiskey?’” Niel says. “You couldn’t do that now to save your life.”

Of course, once the bourbon boom arrived, his whiskey buying changed dramatically. He points to the shift in 2017-2018 as a key turning point, as bottles and brands he used to be able to buy by the case were no longer readily available. “The top shelf went out,” Niel says. “We had a whiskey program known for having cool stuff sold at regular markups, but now we had to charge $25 for a pour of Blanton’s because we could only get two bottles a month. That’s when I started working on barrel selections.”

His First Barrel Pick

Niel made his first barrel pick—an Elijah Craig—during the Covid-19 pandemic, but it was a long process to get hold of his bottles due to shutdowns and the general upheaval of those days. Even so, he never wavered. And in the six years since, he’s now picked 42 barrels, predominantly whiskeys, though he’s also selected a handful of tequila barrels and one mezcal. For the majority of his picks, he buys the entire barrel, a big financial and practical commitment—some barrels yield over 200 bottles. Though in some instances, his distributor network allows him to work with a retail partner and split the barrel yield.

Niel has personally been involved in each of his 42 barrel picks, though he often brings a team from his restaurants that includes bartenders, managers, and servers to be part of the experience. Over the years, he’s created a list of guidelines for his picks and the overall process. First and foremost, he aims to visit each distillery rather than accept samples by mail. After that, it’s about picking the best barrel presented instead of trying to fill a specific niche.

“If we have a chance to go to the distillery, we always go—we’re a four to five-hour drive from Lexington, Louisville, and Bardstown, so going there is the first piece of the puzzle,” Niel explains. “We always try to pick the best whiskey on the table. We’re not trying to pick something for a specific person. We pick the best whiskey we possibly can.”

Naming His Barrels

Niel takes detailed notes at each tasting and creates spec sheets for each barrel he purchases. Those sheets are used to train staff on tasting and selling the whiskey once it arrives in each restaurant. In addition, his team gives each barrel a name—sometimes a human name and sometimes one that reflects a particular theme—to give it a personality, which he says helps restaurant guests connect with the whiskeys.

Niel scored the first barrel of Old Forester barrel proof available in Chattanooga, and named it Lucile. He also got the first 6 year old New Riff barrel that the distillery offered, which he named Ricky Bobby. Other recent notable barrels still available in his venues include a Willet 9 year old he calls Brass Ring, a Buffalo Trace he calls Stepping Stone, a Bardstown he calls Gold Rush, and a Rare Character he calls Live Easy Love Easy. Each of Niel’s restaurants has a spirits book at the bar, and each book starts with his list of available barrel picks, with the barrel names, mashbills, ABVs, and barrel numbers. Some of his barrel picks are designed for neat pours, but many are also used in specialty cocktails at the bar.

“The names are all interesting and give the barrels a personality,” Niel says. “We imbue them with an identity and talk to guests about it.” The whiskeys excel at Easy Street Bistro & Bar and Main Street Meats. His newest concept Little Coyote offers barrel pick whiskeys too, but it also highlights agave spirits, including his barrels of Herradura, Paladar, and Corazón tequilas.

Picks for 2026 and Beyond

For 2026, Niel already has barrel picks lined up with Old Forester, Rare Character’s Brook Hill, and Herradura. He says that going forward, he’d love to work with Russel’s Reserve and do another Willet barrel. He identifies his unicorn barrel as Elmer T. Lee bourbon, though he acknowledges getting a barrel of that is unlikely. He’s also toying with the idea of expanding beyond the U.S., specifically for barrels of Irish whiskey or scotch, but he notes that they’re more cost-prohibitive and not as readily available.

“It’s not lost on me that I’ve done things in the whiskey world that people would pay hundreds of thousands of dollars to do,” Niel says. “I’d like to think I have a good reputation for great barrels of whiskey. Over time, people have come to expect us to have really cool selections. It’s a big part of the identity of my bars.”