Whiskey Maker Honoring an Enslaved Distiller Is in a Fiscal Bind

A federal judge has ordered that Uncle Nearest be placed in receivership, after a lender claimed the company’s finances are in disarray.

Uncle Nearest whiskey was named for Nearest Green, an enslaved Black distiller who may have helped Jack Daniel create his famed Tennessee whiskey.Credit...Laura Partain for The New York Times

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By Clay Risen

Since its founding in 2016, Uncle Nearest — named for the enslaved Black distiller who may have helped create Jack Daniel’s — has been one of the fastest-growing new whiskey brands in America, racking up a brace of awards and reaching a self-declared valuation of $1.1 billion in 2024.