Have you ever heard of Nathan “Nearest” Green? He’s also known as Uncle Nearest. Probably not. But what about Jack Daniel? Shot in the dark, I’d assume yes. But there would be no Jack Daniel without Nathan Green. Uncle Nearest is the formerly enslaved master distiller who taught Jack Daniel the craft of Tennessee whiskey. Founded in 2016, Fawn Weaver created the Uncle Nearest brand to highlight the largely unrecognized impact of Green’s contribution to the whiskey world. In 2019, Green’s great-great-granddaughter and former law enforcement officer, Victoria Eady Butler, joined as master blender and became the first known Black woman to hold this role in the whiskey industry. As a brand, Uncle Nearest focuses on inclusion as an all-women executive team leads it and gives back through the $50 million Uncle Nearest Venture Fund they created to support minority-owned spirit brands. In an interview with Food & Wine, Weaver stated, “Rather than complain about what we’ve been prevented from accomplishing, I’m simply accomplishing it myself and then using my resources to help other women- and BIPOC-founded, -owned, and -led companies to do the same.”
