Uncle Nearest Premium Whiskey honors first African American Master Distiller’s legacy – The Bay State Banner

Uncle Nearest Premium Whiskey CEO Fawn Weaver (left) and Master Blender and great-great-granddaughter of Nearest Green, Victoria Eady Butler. PHOTO: UNCLE NEAREST INC. Banner Business sponsored by The Boston Foundation One of the most awarded American whiskey brands was built on a filtration process brought to the United States by enslaved people and practiced by the hands of first-known Black master distiller Nathan “Nearest” Green. Born in Maryland in the 1820s, Nearest Green’s whiskey boasted a unique smoothness only achieved by filtering bourbon through sugar maple coal. Once enslaved by the very preacher who claimed to have taught a young Jack Daniel how to make whiskey, when it was in fact Green himself doing so in the 1850s, his story now lives on through Uncle Nearest Premium Whiskey. This all-women led and 50% women-employed business has flourished into the United States’ most awarded and fastest growing whiskey brand according to the IWSR. Founded by CEO Fawn Weaver in 2017 with the expertise and skill of four time Master Blender of the year and great-great-granddaughter of Nearest Green, Victoria Eady Butler, Uncle Nearest Premium Whiskey aims to eliminate barriers for minorities within the spirits industry by using their success to uplift...