Uncle Nearest Premium Whiskey

Last updated
Uncle Nearest Premium Whiskey
Company typeprivate
FoundedJuly 2017 (Lynchburg, Tennessee)
Founder Fawn Weaver
Keith Weaver
Headquarters
Shelbyville, Tennessee
,
US
Area served
Worldwide
Key people

Uncle Nearest Premium Whiskey is a brand of Tennessee whiskey produced by Uncle Nearest, Inc., headquartered in Shelbyville, Tennessee, United States. The whiskey is named after the formerly enslaved man, Nathan "Nearest" Green, who taught a young Jack Daniel the craft of distilling. [1]

Contents

As of 2023, eight brand variants have been produced. [2] [3] According to the IWSR, Uncle Nearest is the fastest-growing whiskey brand in the United States, [4] and is recognized as the most successful Black-owned distillery in the world. [5]

Uncle Nearest was named one of the 100 Reasons to Love America by People magazine in 2021, [6] and one of Inc.'s 5000 fastest-growing US companies from 2019 to 2022. [7]

History

Uncle Nearest, Inc., launched the Uncle Nearest Premium Whiskey brand in July 2017 and subsequently announced plans to expand into domestic and international markets, debuting its first whiskey, Nathan Green 1870 Single Barrel, in October 2018. [8] It is the first spirit named after an African-American. [9] [10] [11] As of September 2019, it is sold in all 50 states and twelve countries, and reached $100 million in sales in October 2022. [12] [13]

In 2019, [14] Uncle Nearest announced Victoria Eady Butler, a descendant of Nathan Green, as master blender, becoming the first known African-American female whiskey master blender. [15] [16] She was named Master Blender of the Year by Whisky Magazine, VinePair, and The Spirits Business in 2021, [17] [18] and became Whisky's first back-to-back winner in 2022. [19]

In June 2020, the Nearest Green Foundation (co-founded by Fawn and Keith Weaver) and the Jack Daniel Distillery announced the Nearest & Jack Advancement Initiative. [20] Each company contributed $2.5 million to create the Nearest Green School of Distilling at Motlow State Community College, which includes the Leadership Acceleration Program for apprenticeships, and the Business Incubation Program, which provides expertise and resources to African-Americans entering the spirits industry. [21]

On June 1, 2021, Uncle Nearest formed the Uncle Nearest Venture Fund, a $50 million initiative to invest in minority-founded and owned spirits brands. [4] The company announced the Uncle Nearest HBCU Old Fashioned Challenge in January 2023 to raise $1 million for HBCU's. [22]

In October 2023, Uncle Nearest announced the acquisition of Domaine Saint Martin, a 100-acre estate and vineyard in the Grande Champagne district of Cognac. [23] [24]

Nathan "Nearest" Green

Known as Uncle Nearest, Nathan "Nearest" Green was acknowledged in 2016 as the first African-American master distiller on record in the United States. [25] He taught Jack Daniel to make Tennessee whiskey and served as the first master distiller – formerly called "head stiller" – for the Jack Daniel Distillery as a free man after the Civil War. [26] He was instrumental in developing the Lincoln County Process, the sugar maple charcoal filtering method used to make most Tennessee Whiskey. [1] [27]

Nearest Green Distillery

In 2017, a rezoning proposal was approved by the Bedford County board to accommodate a whiskey-themed business at the former Sand Creek Farms in Shelbyville, Tennessee. [28] On September 14, 2019, [29] the first phase of the Nearest Green Distillery opened, which included the Welcome House, a bottling house, a working horse and cattle farm, and the Toppy's Copper Skies Bar. [30] It was the first distillery in the United States named after a Black person. [31]

After a year-long closure due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the distillery re-opened its doors on Juneteenth 2021, adding a single-barrel rickhouse, an improved Welcome Center and Family Tasting Room, a restaurant, a non-alcoholic speakeasy, [32] and the Master Blender House. [33] [34] That month, the distillery purchased an additional 53 acres for further expansion, and announced plans to dedicate 100 acres to grow organic corn for its blends. [35]

On March 23, 2023, the distillery opened Humble Baron, a 202-seat entertainment venue featuring a 518-foot long horseshoe bar (designed by Death & Co.), named the longest in the world by the Guinness World Records. [36] [37] The distillery's second phase will complete with the future opening of the Still House. [38]

The company announced the purchase of an additional 109 acres in Shelbyville in May 2023. [39]

Whiskeys

1856 Batch UN 1856 logo.png
1856 Batch

The recipe behind the Uncle Nearest Tennessee whiskeys dates back to the whiskeys made in the late 1800s in Lincoln County. According to Weaver, "[the recipe] was saved from a fire just behind the square in Lynchburg, and is now under lock and key at the Farmers Bank in Lynchburg, the bank Jack Daniel founded in 1888." [25] The recipe includes corn malt, a former whiskey ingredient long missing from Tennessee whiskeys. [25]

The Uncle Nearest brand originally included a silver and an aged whiskey, both distilled from locally sourced grains and bottled in Tennessee. [40] The silver whiskey takes 25 days to make, using an 11-step process that includes a triple charcoal mellowing system designed for the brand. [41] The company added a single-barrel whiskey in July 2018. [9]

The brand's first three releases are named after the year Nearest was born (1820), the year he was credited with perfecting the Lincoln County Process (1856), and the year he retired (1884). [42]

As of 2023, five additional variants have been produced; 1870 Single Barrel (UK), Master Blend Edition, and three rye whiskeys: Straight Rye Whisky, Uncut/Unfiltered Straight Rye Whiskey and Single Barrel Rye. [43] [3]

Awards and ratings

Uncle Nearest 1856 Premium Aged WhiskeyNew York World Wine & Spirits Competition2021 Best in Class - Best Tennessee Whiskey [44]

2023 - Double Gold [45]

2022 Chinese Wine & Spirit CompetitionCWSA Whiskey of the Year [46]
2023 L.A. Spirits AwardsBest Tennessee Whiskey [47]
Uncle Nearest 1820 Nearest Green Single Barrel Edition2021 Ultimate Spirits Challenge [48] Chairman's Trophy
San Francisco World Spirits Competition Double Gold - 2020, [49] 2021, [50] 2022 [51]
2023 International Whisky CompetitionBest Tennessee Whiskey [52]
Uncle Nearest 1884 Premium Small Batch WhiskeyAscot AwardsBest American Whiskey - 2021, [53] 2023 [54]
American Whiskey MastersGold Medal - 2022, 2023 [55]
Uncle Nearest Master Blend Edition2021 New York World Wine & Spirits Competition [56] Best Tennessee Whiskey
2022 International Whisky Competition1st Place, Tennessee Whiskey [57]
2023 TAG Global Spirits AwardsBest in Show, Tennessee Whiskey [58]
Uncle Nearest Single Barrel Rye Whiskey2023 San Francisco World Spirits CompetitionDouble Gold [59]
2023 International Whisky CompetitionBest Rye Whiskey [52]
Uncle Nearest Uncut & Unfiltered Rye Whiskey2023 Whiskies of the World AwardsGold [60]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Whisky</span> Distilled alcoholic beverage

Whisky or whiskey is a type of liquor made from fermented grain mash. Various grains are used for different varieties, including barley, corn, rye, and wheat. Whisky is typically aged in wooden casks, which are typically made of charred white oak. Uncharred white oak casks previously used for the aging of port, rum or sherry are also sometimes used.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Rye whiskey</span> Distilled alcoholic beverage

Rye whiskey can refer to two different, but related, types of whiskey:

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tennessee whiskey</span> Type of American whiskey

Tennessee whiskey is straight whiskey produced in the U.S. state of Tennessee. Although it has been legally defined as a bourbon whiskey in some international trade agreements, most current producers of Tennessee whiskey disclaim references to their products as "bourbon" and do not label them as such on any of their bottles or advertising materials. All current Tennessee whiskey producers are required by Tennessee law to produce their whiskeys in Tennessee and – with the sole exception of Benjamin Prichard's – to use a filtering step known as the Lincoln County Process prior to aging the whiskey. Beyond the perceived marketing value of the distinction, Tennessee whiskey and bourbon have almost identical requirements, and most Tennessee whiskeys meet the criteria for bourbon.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jack Daniel's</span> Whiskey brand

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">George Dickel</span> Brand of whisky produced in the State of Tennessee

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">William Grant & Sons</span> Scottish alcohol distillery

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A master blender is an individual who develops specific blended spirits using a combination of spirits with different characteristics. For example, in the Scotch whisky industry, master blenders choose which single malts and grain whiskies to combine to make particular brands of blended whisky. A master blender is not the same thing as a master distiller, although one person may do both jobs at small craft distilleries. As the name suggests, the blender creates blends using spirits from different casks and is responsible for making sure the product remains consistent across different batches, while the distiller is either directly responsible for the mashing and distilling of spirits or simply holds the title as the administrative and marketing figurehead of the company.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">American whiskey</span> Type of distilled liquor produced in the United States

American whiskey is whiskey produced in the United States. American whiskeys made from mashes with at least 51% of their named grains include bourbon whiskey, rye whiskey, rye malt whiskey, malt whiskey, wheat whiskey, Tennessee whiskey, and corn whiskey.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bulleit Bourbon</span> Brand of Kentucky straight bourbon whiskey

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Nathan "Nearest" Green</span> American master whiskey distiller (1820 –?)

Nathan "Nearest" Green, incorrectly spelled "Nearis" in an 1880 census, was an American head stiller, more commonly referred to as a master distiller. Born into slavery and emancipated after the American Civil War, he taught his distilling techniques to Jack Daniel, founder of the Jack Daniel's Tennessee whiskey distillery. Green was hired as the first master distiller for Jack Daniel Distillery, and he is the first African-American master distiller on record in the United States.

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Fawn Weaver</span> American entrepreneur and author

Fawn Weaver is an American entrepreneur and author who holds the position of CEO at Grant Sidney Inc. In 2017, Weaver co-founded Uncle Nearest Premium Whiskey where she serves as the chief historian. She is the founder of the Nearest Green Foundation. In March 2021, she was named to Endeavor's board of directors.

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References

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  2. ↑ AmericanWhiskeyMag (2020-01-23). "Uncle Nearest – 1884 Small Batch Tennessee Whiskey". American Whiskey Magazine. Retrieved 2021-05-28.
  3. 1 2 Hurt, Jeanette. "Uncle Nearest Adds Rye To Its Whiskey Lineup". Forbes. Retrieved 2023-07-07.
  4. 1 2 Dunn, Elizabeth G. (2021-06-01). "A Black Whiskey Entrepreneur Will Help Bankroll Others Like Her". The New York Times. ISSN   0362-4331 . Retrieved 2021-06-02.
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