IT’S BIGGER THAN WHISKEY

What does it mean to build and preserve a legacy? It’s a question that only we can answer for ourselves and the lives we live. For Uncle Nearest Premium Whiskey founder and owner, Fawn Weaver, it’s not necessarily about something she leaves once she departs from this Earth, but it is more about walking in her purpose each and every day.

“My answer is always so disappointing. I don’t care about my legacy. I literally do not care if two generations from now, people don’t remember that I was here,” Fawn Weaver tells EBONY during our sit down conversation in the Master Distiller House on the Nearest Green Distillery property in Shelbyville, Tennessee. “My job is to fulfill my purpose while here. And the only legacy that I care about is hearing well done, my good and faithful servant.”

Fawn Weaver. Image: Andrea Hutchinson.

It’s been a busy day at the distillery. Weaver is running back and forth as she not only moderates panels during the second annual Nearest & Jack’s Advancement Initiative’s ‘Spirits on the Rise’ conference, but she’s also stopping to talk to media, fellow spirit brand owners and other familiar faces. Dawning her signature micro braids and a fierce burgundy 2-piece leather set, it’s inspiring just to see her navigate the room so effortlessly.

The event, which drew in a packed house, provides two-days of programming centered around educating aspiring and up-and-coming Black and Brown spirit brands about the industry—from the importance of marketing and media, to informative fireside chats featuring a range of businesspeople and executives who have the knowledge on taking a brand to the next level. Essentially, Weaver and her team are giving out “free game” to break down the doors of this once homogenous industry.

“Fawn Weaver reached out to me and others in the industry, and she had this great idea. She said, ‘I want to start an initiative that will help [Black and Brown] entrepreneurs and I want you to be a part of it,’” Melvin Keebler, Senior Vice President and general manager of Jack Daniel’s Supply Chain tells EBONY during Spirits on the Rise. “So out of that conversation, the Nearest & Jack Advancement Initiative was founded.”

The initiative, in conjunction with Jack Daniel’s, has three pillars: the business incubation program, which helps entrepreneurs gain them financial resources, technical resources, and guidance in how to start, grow and get their products to market. The leadership acceleration program is designed primarily for individuals already in the industry, generally working for corporations, and the third part of it is the Nearest Green School of Distilling.

“The initiative was created because there had never before Uncle Nearest been a successful Black-owned brand founded by us and owned by us,” Weaver explains. “So, being able to figure out, okay, if we don’t want Uncle Nearest to be the only one, if we say we want to diversify the industry, then someone has to step forth and pull all the gatekeepers from behind the gates and all the national accounts—your Total Wines & More, your TGI Fridays, Hyatt, Marriott and more—and bring these folks together so that we can at least bring down the walls.”

A 2022 Pronghorn study revealed that only 7.8% of the spirit industry’s labor force is Black. Now when we get into leadership, only 2% hold executive roles, and as of now, 0% of acquisitions.

For Jack Daniel’s barrel maturation manager, master taster and brand ambassador, Byron Copeland, he’s seen firsthand what opening the gates can do. Copeland was the first Jack Daniel’s selected graduate of the Nearest Jack Advancement Initiative’s leadership acceleration program.

Serving as the Spirits on the Rise emcee, he shares how the program really allowed him to see his 5-year plan within the spirits industry come to life.

“The biggest thing for me was meeting all these people and building valuable relationships. But now being able to show people what we can be in this industry has been the most rewarding part,” Copeland says.

To further understand the impact of not only this initiative, but the work that Fawn Weaver is putting in, you’d need to know a bit of the backstory of how Uncle Nearest came to be. After all, you don’t just become a billion-dollar company overnight.

The Photo That Started It All

It all started (mostly) from a photo. A photo that Mr. Jack Daniel himself publicly shared of his leadership team back in the late 1800s. While one would assume that a photo in and of itself doesn’t have the power to rewrite history, this particular photo did. It featured Daniel, in a black necktie and crisp fedora-like hat, and to his right was a young, Black man. As Weaver and others did their research, they found that the young man was the son of Mr. Nearest Green, the former enslaved man credited for helping Daniel perfect his whiskey recipe and ultimately build his empire.

“You have this man, Jack [Daniel], who decided I’m going to take a picture with my leadership team, and I’m going to sit at the center position of the entire photo, Nearest Green’s son. To me, that was him saying, I am going to make sure that America cannot erase him. That was him putting his flag down and going, when I die, I am going to make sure that y’all are not able to forget him. And it’s the only reason we’re able to tell the story now, because he and his descendants made sure that they continue to tell the story of Nearest Green,” Weaver reflected.

That same story is not only being told through the 323-acre property and the thousands of bottles of award-winning whiskey being blended right on its premises, but also through the hands of Nearest Green’s actual living descendants, who also work for Uncle Nearest.

Victoria Eady-Butler is the master distiller for Uncle Nearest, the first Black American woman to hold the distinguished title. She’s the great-great-granddaughter of Nearest Green, and she takes pride in being able to carry on her family’s historic legacy as well as the history-making story she and her work family are writing day-by-day.

Victoria Eady-Butler, changing the game and cementing her family’s lineage in the spirits industry. Image: Andrea Hutchinson.

“Fawn and Keith Weaver started this company to elevate Nearest Green and my family. So when you think about the sacrifices that they’ve made for us, it’s hard to put that into words,” Eady-Butler shares. “But, gratitude and gratefulness are the things that come to mind.”

“I think he [Nearest Green] would be extremely proud. In fact, I, I feel that he is,” she says fighting back tears when asked what Green would think about Uncle Nearest Premium Whiskey if he were alive. “I still get emotional after all this time when someone asks me that. And while he didn’t make whiskey on this property, I feel his presence every time I drive onto the distillery campus. So, he’s proud of what we’re doing. We are honoring him with style and grace—a manner which I think he approves.”

Paving the Way For the Next Wave of Legacy Builders

Although Weaver shares that she’s not here to necessarily solidify a legacy that will follow her for generations to come, we’d be remiss to not talk about the impact the brand has had in its less than ten year existence.

To name a few of the standout feats: Fawn Weaver recently locked in the Guinness World Record for the ‘World’s Longest Book Signing’ on May 5, 2024, Nearest Green Distillery is home to the world’s longest bar—Humble Barron, the brand has raised hundreds of thousands of dollars for underfunded Historically Black Colleges and Universities with its HBCU Old Fashioned challenge, Nearest Green is the most successful Black-owned distillery in the world and Uncle Nearest Premium Whiskey is the most awarded bourbon and whiskey brand on the market today.

For the “average” person, they would stop there. But for Weaver and the Uncle Nearest team, it’s deeper than just setting records—it’s about lifting as they climb.

“It’s very easy to quit in this industry because it’s so difficult,” Weaver says. “So, if these two days provide these spirit brand owners and industry professionals with enough hope to keep going—if they keep going, they’ll succeed.”

“I know a part of my purpose is sharing the keys to success in real time, not just going through the gate and locking the door behind me, but opening the gate and propping it open. I understand that’s just a part of why I was placed here. So when we begin to see Black spirit companies become successful, we’ll be able to track it right back to the Spirits on the Rise without question,” she passionately adds.

One of those present-day success stories belongs to Kevin Larkai and Monté Burrow, co-founders of Blackleaf Vodka and the most recent graduates of the Nearest Jack Advancement Initiative program. Blackleaf is said to be the first French organic vodka and according to the owners, “it’s exceptionally smooth, crisp and clean. Whether it’s for a formal occasion or something that’s a little bit laid back, it suits all those different needs.”

Showcasing their brand during the event, we were able to sit down with the two men to learn how the initiative has truly impacted them and given them the push needed to take things beyond their wildest dreams.

“What Fawn is doing is amazing in terms of opening up her network. Being plugged in with the Uncle Nearest folks, the Jack Daniel’s team and the Brown Foreman teams has really given us the resources to grow,” Kevin Larkai shares. “It’s been impactful in a couple of ways for us specifically, but distribution has been the biggest.”

The two men were facing a few roadblocks by way of getting their brand distributed in the state of Georgia. Thanks to the Nearest Jack Advancement Initiative, they were able to overcome that and have continued pushing forward ever since.

“Everything leads back to relationships, what you get from them is what you put into them,” Blackleaf Vodka co-founder Monté Burrow explains. “Relationships are key. Just being in the room and then letting us have the audacity to be ourselves—our authentic selves—and connect with people, there’s no bigger benefit from a program like this than that.”

“People can do things that are ostentatious, but the reality is being able to be around people who are doing it, that have done it or can unlock the ways for you to do it—that is invaluable,” he adds.

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