By Kharisma McIlwaine
Fawn Weaver is a dynamic force, an inspiration, and a blueprint for how faith, alignment and purpose can work in tandem for incredible results. Weaver is one of only five African American women to found and lead a billion-dollar company in American history. As a serial entrepreneur, real estate mogul, two-time New York Times bestselling author, and the founder and CEO of Uncle Nearest Inc., she balances it all with grace.
Uncle Nearest Premium Whiskey, founded in 2016, is the fastest-growing American whiskey brand in American history, and the most awarded bourbon from 2019-2023, earning more than 1,200 awards, and the best-selling African American founded spirit brand of all time. In her latest best-selling book, “Love & Whiskey,” Weaver shares the history of Nearest Green, the world’s first known Black master distiller, and opens up about her journey at the helm of Uncle Nearest.
In partnership with the African American Museum of Philadelphia, Weaver is taking “Love & Whiskey” on the road in a book tour called “AAMP Presents: Love & Whiskey Unfiltered” Book Tour with Fawn Weaver and Victoria Eady Butler.” The tour is making a stop in Philadelphia on February 19. Weaver spoke with the SUN about the history behind “Love & Whiskey” and her mission to ensure that the legacy of Uncle Nearest is never forgotten.
Weaver credits the trifecta of her faith, alignment and purpose with placing her exactly where she needs to be.
“My faith is first and foremost, my purpose aligns to my faith, so everything has to align with those two things in order for me to move forward,” Weaver said. “When people are looking at what I’ve done and how I’ve pushed forward in an industry that historically has never seen a woman or a person of color do what I’m doing right now — that’s complete alignment.”
“Our industry is in a bit of an upheaval right now,” Weaver continued. “ Everyone is down year over year, but Uncle Nearest is up. We continue to push up double digits, and we’re going to do that throughout this year. I believe that 2025 will be Uncle Nearest’s strongest year and we’ve got the momentum to back that up, which is the opposite of the industry.”
Weaver discovered the story of Nearest Green, master distiller and the man responsible for teaching Jack Daniel how to make whiskey in a New York Times article.
“I think I first found out the same way that everyone outside of Lynchburg, Tennessee did,” she said. “It was on the cover of The New York Times international edition. I happened to be in Singapore at the time. Here in the US, it was on the cover of the food section of The New York Times. The headline was “Jack Daniel’s Embraces a Hidden Ingredient: Help From a Slave.” The photo was of Jack Daniel surrounded by his leadership team — the only known photo that Jack ever took with other people.
Seated to his immediate right was an African American man. If you look at the photo in its uncropped version, what you find is not only was the African American man seated right next to him, but Jack actually seated the center position to him.”
“You’re looking at a photo that was taken in 1904, so it begs the question who was this man and how was he so important that Jack would step out of the center of the photo and make sure this man was center? The person was George Green, Nearest Green’s son,” Weaver said. “If George Green had been on the outskirts of the picture, we wouldn’t be having this conversation. We’re having this conversation because Jack put him at the center. I truly believe it was Jack’s way of saying, ‘America will try to wipe him out — I’m not going to allow that.’ We’re looking at maybe the first known case of allyship.”
Long after Jack Daniel died, his family continued to honor Nearest Green’s contributions.
“I think Jack Daniel truly is one of the great American stories because they made sure to credit both races that were involved in their creation,” Weaver said. “I think that’s pretty extraordinary. Nearest Green was the best at what he did — he was not a DEI hire. It was based on his skill set, his legacy of excellence, and the recognition he got because of that. As I began studying it, Jack made sure throughout his lifetime, his nephew made sure in his lifetime, and his nephew’s four sons, who were Jack’s great nephews when they took over the distillery — they all made sure to mention Nearest Green and his boys George and Eli so many times it’d be impossible for America to wipe that legacy out.”
After extensive research, Weaver shares her findings and informs the masses about the history of Nearest Green in “Love & Whiskey.”
“People have to read “Love & Whiskey” because it’s really hard to explain how it came to be,” Weaver said. “When you talk about green lights, pathways lit up and open doors that you just can’t deny, [some] people would call it serendipity — I would call it faith in action. You literally can’t look at this and not know that there’s someone greater at work [who] wanted to make sure this story came out at this exact moment.
This story could have come out so long ago and it came out in 2016 at the height of a coming of heads of racial tension for this generation, if you will. Then the book came out last year in June as we [were] in the middle of the political season again leading up to the current moment.
There’s a reason that this story has not only endured, but the time that God chose it to move it forward was a time where our country would be more divided by race than we have been at least in my 48 years of living.”
Weaver shared her excitement about touring the country with “Love & Whiskey.” On the tour, Weaver is joined by Victoria Eady Butler, the great-great-granddaughter of Nearest Green and master blender at Uncle Nearest.
“It’s been incredible,” Weaver said. “With “Love & Whiskey,” every location has been between 350 and 500 people seated, and we do the tasting. There’s been incredible excitement around it. We fully expect Philly to sell out. What I’ve been doing is asking when I post about the tour, what cities should this tour come to and the number of people that said Philadelphia… there was no question we were coming to Philly.”
“It’s not like a typical book tour at all,” Weaver added. “There is no host asking me questions that have been predetermined — we literally pass the mic. People have asked extraordinary questions in every single city. We always run out of time because the questions are so good, the answers are so good, and people are just enthralled by this notion of there being a completely unfiltered conversation where the person answering the questions has no idea what the questions are. Every stop the questions have been different and that has been very exciting for me.”
Despite all that Weaver has already accomplished, her tenacity and mission to preserve the legacy of Uncle Nearest remain unwavering.
“I think a lot of times people confuse alignment and ease,” she said. “There is not a single thing that I’m doing that is easy — all of it is hard — but the alignment allows me to continue moving forward, even when there are so many things that can absolutely tear this down. Its purpose, it’s intention, it’s the way things are supposed to be.”
“I don’t care about my legacy,” Weaver said. “The thing I want to make sure that I do while I’m alive is to build this brand so large that the next generation can’t mess it up. When you look at Jack Daniel’s, even when that company’s ownership is having some challenges, what you know for sure is that a generation from now, Jack Daniel’s will still be here and stronger than it is now and it will continue to do that. That’s only because it was built so large that the brand equity is so important — the name, [and] Jack’s face is so ubiquitous around the world, there’s no way to wipe that out. I look at it as my job in this generation to do the same thing for Nearest.”
Be sure to follow Fawn Weaver’s journey on IG @fawn.weaver. Visit: www.unclenearest.com and type in your zip code to find where it is sold in your area.
“Love & Whiskey” is available wherever books are sold. “AAMP Presents: Love & Whiskey Unfiltered Book Tour with Fawn Weaver and Victoria Eady Butler” will take place on February 19 from 6-9 pm at Rivers Casino, located at 1001 N. Delaware Avenue, Philadelphia. To register for the event, visit: https://tockify.com/aampmuseum/detail/798/1733266800000.
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