A deep historical connection between African Americans and Jack Daniel’s predates the establishment of the Jack Daniel’s whiskey company.

Uncle Nearest

Nathan ‘Nearest’ Green, also known as Uncle Nearest was an American head stiller, essentially a master distiller. He was born into slavery and freed after the American Civil War. Green passed down his distilling expertise to Jack Daniel, the founder of Jack Daniel’s Tennessee whiskey distillery.

Jack Daniels

Green became the first master distiller for Jack Daniel Distillery, marking him as the first recorded African-American master distiller in the United States. He was pivotal in perfecting the Lincoln County Process a sugar maple charcoal filtering method widely used in producing Tennessee Whiskey. This is a filtering method he learnt while cleaning water in West Africa. Due to his career with the steadily emerging company, he is likely to have been one of the richest African Americans at the time with wealth that even rivalled some of his white counterparts.

Uncle Nearest Premium Whiskey

By 2017, Uncle Nearest Premium Whiskey became a brand in its own right. In 2019, Victoria Eady Butler, the great-great-granddaughter of Uncle Nearest was appointed whiskey master blender. This made history as she became the first known African American whiskey master blender in history.

Legacy

Author Fawn Weaver launched the Nearest Green Foundation to honour the pioneer’s legacy. The foundation is responsible for a new museum, memorial park, and book about his life. Additionally, it has established college and grad school scholarships for Green’s descendants to continue their ancestors’ legacy of excellence.