Uncle Nearest

Nathan 'Nearest' Green, an enslaved man and master of the charcoal-mellowing craft, taught a teenage Jack Daniel how to make whiskey — a story the industry left untold for 150 years. Founded in 2017 by author Fawn Weaver to honour him, Uncle Nearest became the fastest-growing American whiskey brand in history, with Green's great-great-granddaughter Victoria Eady Butler as master blender. The whiskey itself — silky, maple-and-stone-fruit Tennessee walking — has the awards to match the story.