Best whiskey in Nashville: These bars have rarest bottles, biggest selections

Nashville, arguably the epicenter of Tennessee whiskey culture, is not far from many of the most important Kentucky bourbon makers.

"Nashville is the perfect head or tail of a whiskey trail," said Matt Bolus, the Louisville-raised chef and owner of Gertie's Whiskey Bar and 404 Kitchen.

"You can start in Louisville, where there's a ton of distilleries and work your way down 65 and end up in Nashville, where you can see a ton of local distilleries here."

That distillery tourism is driving a surge of local bars and other establishments catering to whiskey seekers. That's not just good hospitality ― it's good business.

Tourist traffic surrounding distillery visits generated an estimated $2.05 billion across industries, including in restaurants and bars. That fact was revealed by a report commissioned in fall 2023 by the official Tennessee Whiskey Trail, which traces distilleries across the state.

Many of those whiskey tourists land in Nashville, contributing to the city's hospitality economy. Restaurants and bars like Bolus' have risen up to meet them, with strong portfolios of rare and sought-after bottles.

Gertie's Whiskey Bar

For sheer selection and a growing collection of rare and private-barrel whiskeys, Gertie's Whiskey Bar and 404 Kitchen is a Gulch destination for whiskey aficionados.

Matt Bolus, chef and partner of Gertie's, figures his collection has reached somewhere near 700 bottles, though it ebbs and flows.

"It's a living breathing animal, a growing beast," he said.

Gertie's has a convivial central bar and lounge seating and a menu of upscale Southern food from 404 Kitchen that well complements a finely chosen wine list, plenty of craft cocktails and, of course, that massive collection of whiskey. Bolus figures Gertie's might boast one of the largest selections of private barrels in the Southeast at 18.

Bolus is endlessly fascinated by the magical influence barrels, rickhouse placement and other factors have on the flavor of whiskey.

"Whether it's angels, alchemy or science these two barrels can taste completely different," he said. "To me, private barrels, really get to the personality, to the expression of the distiller or really of nature because of the way the wood changes things." (507 12th Ave. S., www.gertieswhiskeybar.com)

Bourbon Steak

This Michael Mina restaurant high in the JW Marriott Hotel has views that can't be beat, plus 300 whiskey selections presided over by bartender and whiskey specialist Paul Andrews.

You can break that collection down as such: 148 bourbons; 62 ryes; 50 single-malt and blended Scotches; 21 Tennessee whiskeys; 13 Japanese whiskeys; five Irish whiskeys and one Spanish-made whiskey.

Bourbon Steak has nine exclusive single-barrel picks, plus 66 bottles on a "Library List" of rare and sought-after liquor. Some of the rarest include a 19-year-old Willet and selections from the Buffalo Trace Antique Collection.

"All of those are ridiculously sought-after, especially the Weller and the George T. Stagg," Andrews said, plucking a bottle from the shelves. "And this George T. Stagg is 131 proof, but it's also 15 years old, and it gets a little bit smoother with that age."

The Weller and Stagg are $100 an ounce, and far from the priciest. The 30-year Macallan, for example, clocks in at $600, but it's the only bottle in the state. Until recently, the bar boasted a bottle of Michter’s 2022 Celebration Sour Mash, one of only 328 in the world, and also $600 an ounce. Exclusive bottles like these and others on the Libray List are served from a tableside whiskey cart.

"Either Paul or one of our other bartenders will present the bottle, talk about it, give them the history of it and then pour it for them tableside," said general manager A.J. Johnston. "There's a whole show behind it. There's an experience when you come here to drink it."

But it's not just about exclusivity. The restaurant denotes high-quality pours that aren't buzzy enough to fetch top dollar as "Paul's Picks."

"Those are Paul's hidden gems, things that are at a price point that's not insane that people can appreciate that they might not know about," Johnston said. (201 eighth Ave. S., 34th floor, nashvillebourbonsteak.com)

Fox Bar & Cocktail Club

The Fox Bar & Cocktail Club, a moody, gorgeous and intimate bar in East Nashville, has more than 400 bottles of liquor, 155 of which are American, European, Canadian and East Asian whiskies. At only 42 seats, that might be the most extreme ratio of bottles to guests, said beverage director Laura Unterberg.

Some of her favorites in the whiskey collection are Kavalan Distillery ex-Bourbon Cask, a Taiwanese whiskey, and Old Overholt 10-year Cask Strength. She also likes Jacob’s Pardon 18-year corn whiskey, an example of the growing trend of light whiskey. It packs a wallop at 142 proof.

"As an Executive American Whiskey Steward and spirits nerd, I always try to find the cool, rare and unusual for The Fox, especially where whiskey is concerned," she said.

This bar is one of the few in the country to offer the unaged Irish whiskey Poitín, something like a moonshine. It also offers exclusive-to-The Fox single barrel picks. Even with all of that to choose from, it's worth noting that the well-made cocktails, are not to be missed. (2905B Gallatin Pike, www.thefoxnashville.com)

Barrel Proof

The name of the game at this Germantown spot is "unpretentious."

Partners Liam Deegan and Robert LeBlanc founded Barrel Proof in New Orleans' Garden District a decade ago as an ode to their appreciation of pairing high-brow sipping with good old low-brow drinking.

This fall, Barrel Proof launched its second location in Nashville. There, to the delight of cost-fatigued crowds, you can order a $1.50 shot of whiskey but also find a good dry French cider and pair it with aged Armagnac. There's plenty of beer on tap and, of course, lots of whiskey from around the world.

While the parent location has around 400 bottles of whiskey, Barrel Proof has a smaller but growing selection of around 250, according to partner Jason Sorbet.

Barrel Proof is a fun, free-of-artifice hang. The prices are fantastic, there are cheeseburgers to eat, but there's still rare whisky on the shelves. Even so, that also is priced to sell.

"We're an affordable neighborhood bar that just happens to have great whiskey," Sorbet said. "We want to sell people something they didn't think was accessible to them. Literally yesterday we had Wild Turkey Masters Keep Voyage, a once-a-year release."

What can you find there now? You'll just have to stop by and see.

"We get what we can get and we sell it as fast as we can," Sorbet said. "We are a bar for everybody. We're spirit nerds first and foremost. We love booze and love sharing booze with people." (1010 Fourth Ave. N., www.barrelproofnash.com)

Husk

This restaurant, in the center of the city but surrounded by lush gardens, is the perfect respite to the Nashville hustle, where whiskey lovers can find 80-100 different expressions of the spirit behind the bar.

"I like to curate the list to not necessarily be the biggest, but the best of everything that’s offered and available," said bar manager Adam Morgan.

One of the biggest selling points for the restaurant's whiskey list is an extensive selection of single-barrel picks that Husk restaurants use their purchasing power to procure.

"Right now, we're showcasing about 4-5 different single barrel picks from Willet," he said. "Having one is special unto itself but having that many is definitely a treat."

Those can be enjoyed in a flight of high-end Manhattans. But Morgan prefers to sip them neat.

That's the way he also prefers to sip something special the Husk bar currently has: a single-barrel pick of Bardstown Bourbon, aged for six years at sitting at 122.6 proof.

"It drinks so smooth," he said.

Morgan said there's really no telling what the restaurant will have behind the bar that's special during any given visit. His team makes sure to space out special and rare releases throughout the year so there's always something to discover.

"Part of the draw of Husk is that we're known for Southern food and a nicely curated whiskey list." (37 Rutledge St. https://husknashville.com)

Mackensy Lunsford covers Southern food and culture as the senior dining reporter for The Tennessean and the editor of Southern Kitchen.

This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: Nashville whiskey bars: Gertie's, Bourbon Steak, Fox Bar offer options