In this incredible story of entrepreneurship and perseverance, Fawn Weaver seeks to uncover the forgotten history of Uncle Nearest, the Black master distiller who taught Jack Daniel how to distill.

In 2016, while a divided America wrestled its demons, Fawn Weaver traveled to the tiny town of Lynchburg, Tennessee in pursuit of a hidden story at the heart of one of America’s most iconic whiskey brands: Jack Daniel’s.

In this remarkable place, with its one stoplight, one main road, and one industry—whiskey—Fawn peeled back the layers of a Southern town that had bucked societal expectations for generations and a lineage that refused to let their history be lost. This was the home of the best whiskey maker the world never knew: Nearest Green.

As an enslaved man during the Civil War, Nearest befriended a young Jack Daniel and taught him how to make whiskey. As a free man after the war, Nearest became Jack Daniel Distillery's first Master Distiller.

How was the story of their remarkable friendship and allyship allowed to be forgotten? And what could be done now to honor and preserve his legacy for generations to come? “We think Nearest deserves to have his own bottle,” the Green descendants told Fawn. “His name should be on a bottle.”

What began—and will always remain—as a way to permanently honor the legacy of Nearest Green grew into Uncle Nearest, the record-breaking independent whiskey that’s become the fastest-growing Black-owned spirit brand of all time, the fastest-growing Bourbon in U.S. history, and disrupted the American spirits industry to its core.

An incredible true story of friendship, faith, and purpose, Love & Whiskey details how Fawn launched herself into the historical mystery, living among the residents of Lynchburg, discovering a trail of unknown records, and reconnecting branches of a family tree across the generations.

BIO

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. 

[H]  Melcher Media Inc.  /  June 18, 2024

1.4" H x 9.2" L x 6.4" W (1.45 lbs) 376 pages