In 2016, Fawn Weaver read a New York Times article about a former slave, called Nathan “Nearest” Green, who had taught Jack Daniel how to distill whiskey. Later, Green worked for Daniel after the Civil War as probably the first African-American master distiller. Today, Jack Daniel’s Tennessee Whiskey is the bestselling brand of American whiskey in the world.
Weaver felt so inspired by this story that she traveled to Tennessee to interview local people about Green, including many of his descendants. She had planned to write a book or make a film about him. In the end, she founded her own whiskey company and named it after him, Uncle Nearest.
Until that moment in 2017, the U.S. whiskey industry had been dominated by white men. Weaver became the first African-American woman to run a leading spirits brand, and she gave that brand an all-female management team. Nathan Green’s great-great-granddaughter, Victoria Eady Butler, is the company’s master blender, and she too is the first African-American woman ever to hold such a position. Weaver told the spirits club Flaviar that transforming a mostly white and male industry had been wonderful. “I’m a big fan of first,” she said.
Within two years, the Uncle Nearest brand was being sold in all 50 U.S. states and a total of 12 countries. It has also won lots of industry awards along the way. At its headquarters, a 323-acre distillery and farm in Shelbyville, Tennessee, people can visit to learn about the history of Tennessee whiskey. In her research, Weaver collected about 10,000 documents and artifacts about Jack Daniel and Nathan Green.
People before profit
Weaver also co-founded the Nearest Green Foundation to provide college scholarships to Green’s descendants, many of whom still live in Tennessee. And in 2020, Uncle Nearest partnered with Jack Daniel’s to start a $5 million project to racially diversify their industry, supporting apprenticeships and a distilling school.
The company has also announced a $50 million fund for minority-run spirits brands. “I don’t know when we’ll ever turn a profit,” Weaver said, “because we keep putting all the money back into giving back. But that’s been our purpose from day one.”
Born in 1976, Weaver is the daughter of Frank Wilson, a Motown Records songwriter and producer. She began her management career in restaurants and real estate. In 2014, she wrote the bestseller Happy Wives Club: One Woman’s Worldwide Search for the Secrets of a Great Marriage. Weaver, who is happily married, says she wrote the book because she felt many people had an overly negative image of marriage.