In 2016, Fawn Weaver became fixated on a New York Times article telling the little-known story of Nearest Green, a formerly enslaved man who taught Jack Daniel—yes, that Jack Daniel—how to make Tennessee whiskey.
After diving deeper into the story, Fawn ended up purchasing the farm in Lynchburg, Tennessee where Nearest had taught Jack how to distill; and she began meeting the descendants of both men. She eventually decided the best way to preserve Nearest’s legacy was with a bottle of the best Tennessee whiskey she could make.
With no background in distilling, she threw herself into the insular world of spirit-making, an industry mostly dominated by white men. In the eight years since Fawn first discovered his story, Uncle Nearest Premium Whiskey has become one of the fastest-growing whiskey brands in the world, and one of the most awarded American whiskeys.
This episode of How I Built This was produced by Liz Metzger and edited by Neva Grant. Research help from Claire Murashima, with music by Ramtin Arablouei.
You can follow HIBT on X & Instagram, and email us at hibt@id.wondery.com.
See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.
Twitter, Medium and Blogger: Ev Williams
Advice Line with Pete Maldonado of Chomps
Dhar Mann Studios: Dhar Mann
Advice Line with Fawn Weaver of Uncle Nearest Premium Whiskey
YouTube Creator and Cookbook Author: Rosanna Pansino
Healing through food with Danielle Walker of Against All Grain (2022)
CrunchLabs: Mark Rober
AI is smarter than you think with Shane Legg of Google DeepMind
Mythical: Rhett and Link
Less competition, more creation with Renée Mauborgne
Whole30: Melissa Urban
“Beaming” people anywhere in the world with David Nussbaum of Proto
MGA Entertainment: Isaac Larian
Achieving greater things with Adam Grant
Weee!: Larry Liu
AI that can be your second brain with Bethany Bongiorno and Imran Chaudhri of Humane
Primal Kitchen: Mark Sisson
Supercharging Lithium-Ion Batteries with Gene Berdichevsky of Sila Nanotechnologies
The peril (and promise) of AI with Tristan Harris: Part 2
Create your
podcast in
minutes
It is Free
The Commercial Edge: Unleash the Power of People
The emPOWERed Half Hour
Life Kit
Fresh Air
The Tim Ferriss Show
Planet Money
Post Reports