Chloe Sorvino is a staff writer who leads coverage of food, drink and agriculture. Chloe is also the creator and author of the weekly newsletter Fresh Take. Her book Raw Deal: Hidden Corruption, Corporate Greed and the Fight for the Future of Meat published on Dec. 6th, 2022 with Simon & Schuster’s Atria Books.
Entrepreneurial Spirit: Fawn Weaver , at Uncle Nearest headquarters in Shelbyville, Tennessee, will soon expand from bourbon and rye to vodka and cognac. Fawn Weaver founded Uncle Nearest to honor the formerly enslaved master distiller who taught Jack Daniel the secret to making great whiskey. Seven years later, she owns the most successful Black-owned liquor empire, worth $1.1 billion, with ambitious—and unusual—plans for the future.
Weaver’s ban on institutional investors didn’t scare away institutional players. With his BDT & MSD merchant bank left out, billionaire Byron Trott invested personally. “Fawn consistently demonstrates exceptional leadership, long-term vision and resilience, which are all critical traits for a successful founder,” he says.
Magical History Tour: A 1904 photograph of Jack Daniel seated next to a man believed to be George Green, a son of Nearest Green—who was Daniel’s first master distiller—inspired Weaver to create a whiskey brand in his honor.Weaver had been working in public relations and running a special events agency, and after starting her own PR firm, it struggled due to over-hiring.
As Weaver researched Green’s history—she learned that a 20-year-old Daniel had hired him to be his first master distiller after founding his eponymous distillery in 1866—she also traced his genealogy, reconnecting unknown relatives. She knew that the three descendants who still worked at Brown-Forman wanted to know why Green had been erased from tours. She had already begun gobbling up trademarks, shocked that Jack Daniel’s had not secured them.
Today, there are seven Uncle Nearest releases—bourbons and ryes all produced under the direction of Victoria Eady Butler, Green’s great-great-granddaughter. “While we have a lot of work to do,” Butler says, “ name is worldwide now.”call for Weaver to sell.
For now, Shelbyville’s Uncle Nearest distillery remains the crown jewel in her growing empire. Last year, more than 230,000 people stopped by, making Uncle Nearest the seventh-most-visited distillery globally—and within reach of Jack Daniel’s. Those visits are also highly profitable; one $150 bottle sold directly to a visitor has a greater margin than a case sold through distributors.
Nearest Green Nearest Green Jack Daniel Uncle Nearest Jack Daniel's Fawn Weaver Fawn Weaver Uncle Nearest Fawn Weaver Nearest Green Fawn Weaver Net Worth
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