Uncle Nearest, Inc. (independent)

Founded in 2017 by Fawn Weaver, an author and entrepreneur who discovered the untold story of Nathan 'Nearest' Green, an enslaved man who taught Jack Daniel the art of distilling in the 1850s-1860s. Weaver moved to Tennessee in 2016, bought the historic farm property where Green had distilled, and launched the brand to honor his legacy. Uncle Nearest has become the fastest-growing and most awarded American whiskey brand, with the Nearest Green Distillery on a 323-acre campus in Shelbyville, TN. The brand has made history as the first and only spirit brand with a Black person's name on the label to be sold nationally.