Whiskey Business

Fawn Weaver, the founder of Uncle Nearest spirits, is doing more than just raising a glass—she’s raising awareness.

- KOVIE BIAKOLO

On a Saturday in December, as visitors were touring the Uncle Nearest Premium Whiskey distillery in Shelbyville, Tennessee, some 50 miles southeast of Nashville, the founder bellied up to the bar to say a quick hello. How was everyone doing? Did they enjoy their tasting? Where was everyone visiting from? One pair mentioned their heritage, they were Chippewa, traveling from Oklahoma.

Welcoming people, making them feel seen. This matters to Fawn Weaver. She founded and named the company after Nathan “Nearest” Green, the first known Black master distiller and “the best whiskey-maker the world never knew,” to highlight his hidden legacy. The goal was for Nearest Green Distillery to be a place where people from all walks of life could encounter each other and, for that short period of time, be in community with one another. Since opening the doors in 2019 (the brand was officially established two years prior), Weaver has watched that principle become realized. “I can look at a tour—and our tours have about 25 people—and I can say, Trump supporters, Obama supporters… they’re all raising a glass together,” she shares.

There, on her 400-plus acres of land along the state’s Whiskey Trail—the famed Jack Daniel’s distillery is just under 30 miles away—with its horses and white-and-green barrel-filled buildings and blooming flowers, Weaver sees an America that is capable of living up to its ideals. One that has more “good than bad,” and one that is “filled with more love than hate.”

She adds, “Think about the story I’m telling you. I have to pass Confederate flags to get to my distillery, but we’ve never had anything but respect.”