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. It is the first spirit named after an African-American. As of September 2019, it is sold in all 50 states and twelve countries. In 2019, Uncle Nearest announced Victoria Eady Butler, a descendant of Nathan Green, as master blender, becoming the first known African-American female whiskey master blender. She was named Master Blender of the Year by ''Whisky Magazine, VinePair'', and ''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. 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. He was instrumental in developing the Lincoln County Process, the sugar maple charcoal filtering method used to make most Tennessee Whiskey.Nearest Green Distillery
In 2017, a rezoning proposal was approved by the Bedford County, Tennessee, Bedford County board to accommodate a whiskey-themed business at the former Sand Creek Farms in Shelbyville, Tennessee. On September 14, 2019, 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. It was the first distillery in the United States named after a Black person. 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 House and Family Testing Room, a restaurant, a non-alcoholic speakeasy, and the Master Blender House. 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. 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.The distillery's second phase will complete with the future opening of the Still House.Whiskeys
The recipe behind the Uncle Nearest Tennessee whiskeys dates back to the whiskeys made in the late 1800s in Lincoln County, Tennessee, Lincoln County. According to Weaver, "[the recipe] was saved from a fire just behind the square in Lynchburg, Tennessee, Lynchburg, and is now under lock and key at the Farmers Bank in Lynchburg, Tennessee, Lynchburg, the bank Jack Daniel founded in 1888." The recipe includes corn malt, a former whiskey ingredient long missing from Tennessee whiskeys. The Uncle Nearest brand originally included a silver and an aged whiskey, both distilled from locally sourced grains and bottled in Tennessee. The silver whiskey takes 25 days to make, using an 11-step process that includes a triple charcoal mellowing system designed for the brand. The company added a single-barrel whiskey in July 2018. 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). As of 2022, four additional variants have been produced; 1870 Single Barrel (UK), Master Blend, and two Rye whiskey, rye whiskeys, Uncut/Unfiltered Straight Rye Whiskey and Single Barrel Rye.Awards and ratings
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