In 2017, entrepreneur and author Fawn Weaver — who did not have a background in the spirits industry — invested $1 million of her own money to found Uncle Nearest Premium Whiskey. She has since raised $60 million, and Uncle Nearest is now the bestselling African American –owned and founded spirit brand of all time, reports Huffington Post.
The name honors Nathan “Nearest” Green, a former enslaved Black man who mentored Jack Daniel. Though Nearest was the first known African American master distiller, his story hadn’t been told outside of Lynchburg, Tennessee — where the Jack Daniel Distillery is based — and his story disappeared for decades. In order to revive his legacy, Weaver created the whiskey brand encompassing his story, and she brought on Victoria Eady Butler, Nearest’s great-great granddaughter, as master blender.
The brand, located on a farm in Shelbyville, Tennessee, distributed 120,000 cases in 2020 and expects to distribute 250,000 this year. It boasts an all-female leadership team and was the most awarded American whiskey in 2019 and 2020.
