Illustration by Grey Thornberry
Fawn Weaver had been a public-relations firm founder, a bestselling author, and a hospitality executive before she encountered the story of America s first Black master distiller, Nearest Green. It was Green who d taught Jack Daniel how to make and blend whiskey, and who was known to those closest to him as Uncle Nearest. Weaver s goal wasn t to build an award-winning business with national distribution; instead, it was to restore Green s legacy.
Over the past four years, she s done both. I didn t know anything about the whiskey business. I knew nothing about the spirit business, but I did know something about the storytelling business and I knew that it could be a really exciting story to tell, Weaver, the founder of Uncle Nearest Premium Whiskey, said on