Uncle Nearest is a Tennessee-based whiskey brand that honors the legacy of Nathan “Nearest” Green, the first known African-American master distiller. As of March 2026, the company is navigating a complex legal and financial period characterized by a court-ordered receivership and a dispute with its primary lender.

Nathan Green was an enslaved man in Lynchburg, Tennessee, who perfected the Lincoln County Process—a sugar maple charcoal filtering method that defines Tennessee whiskey. In the mid-1800s, Green mentored a young Jack Daniel, teaching him the craft of distilling. After emancipation, Green became the first master distiller for the Jack Daniel Distillery. His contributions remained largely unrecognized until a 2016 New York Times report led to the brand’s founding by entrepreneur Fawn Weaver in 2017.