Nearest Green Distillery unearths the story of a slave and the birth of Tennessee whiskey
SHELBYVILLE, Tenn. (WZTV) — About an hour drive south of Nashville, there’s a distillery that aims to bring truth to a long history of Tennessee whiskey making.
Nearest Green Distillery sits on 323 acres of property in Shelbyville. The Black-owned company is led by CEO Fawn Weaver, who helped unearth the story of Nathan “Nearest” Green—a former slave who taught Jack Daniel everything he knew about distilling whiskey.
Green’s story wasn’t necessarily a secret; he went on to become the first Black master distiller at Jack Daniel’s Distillery in Lynchburg (at the request of Jack, of course). But a New York Times article highlighting Fawn Weaver’s efforts to exhume the story of Nearest and Jack—coupled with the recent opening of Nearest Green Distillery—has brought an interest to the Lincoln County Process and Uncle Nearest like never before.
The Lincoln County Process is what makes Tennessee whiskey, well, Tennessee whiskey. It’s when whiskey gets filtered through sugar maple charcoal before it’s sent to age in charred oak barrels.
A $50 million build-out of Nearest Green Distillery, spearheaded by Weaver, is finetuning this process of distilling whiskey. Victoria Eady Butler, the company’s master blender and great great granddaughter of Green, was named Master Blender of the Year by Whisky Magazine in both 2021 and 2022—an accomplishment no other person has won consecutively in the blind taste judging.
Visitors who tour the distillery can expect a gorgeous walk-through of reclaimed walking horse barns, a reconstructed build of a concession stand that only sells Tennessee favorites like Goo Goo Clusters and Moon Pies, and a speakeasy-style church which spotlights prohibition and the women’s suffrage movement.
Fawn Weaver even hired artist Kelsey Montague to recreate her famous Nashville mural titledWhatLiftsYou. It's painted on the side of the distillery with subtle nods to Tennessee and to whiskey.
Further into the tour, guests will be brought through a barn of aging whiskey barrels and, of course, a mouthwatering taste test.
To see distillery hours, or to book your tour, click here. If you want to learn more about the story of Nearest Green before heading to the distillery, visit their website here.
The property also plans to open a state-of-the art music venue. Check back with fox17.com for details.
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