Weaver, Fawn
1976-present · Contribution: 2016-present
Entrepreneur & Whiskey Founder
Founded Uncle Nearest Premium Whiskey in 2017 to honor Nathan “Nearest” Green, America's first known Black master distiller, building it into the best-selling Black-owned spirits brand in U.S. history
Portraits are AI-generated interpretations, not photographs.
Quick facts
- Born
- 1976
- Active since
- 2016
- Category
- Agriculture & Food
- Best known for
- Founded Uncle Nearest whiskeyBest-selling Black-owned spirits brandNearest Green Foundation
Impact on the world
Weaver recovered a buried history and turned it into the most successful Black-owned spirits brand ever, honoring an enslaved distiller by name. She built a billion-dollar business as an act of historical restoration.
An alternative history
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Sources
- Source lookupFind
Whiskey University
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Related visionaries
Eady Butler, Victoria
Contemporary
Became the first known Black woman Master Blender in American whiskey, crafting Uncle Nearest Premium Whiskey as the great-great-granddaughter of Nathan “Nearest” Green, the formerly enslaved man who taught Jack Daniel to distill
Green, Nathan 'Nearest'
c.1820-1890s
First known African American master distiller; taught the distilling craft to a young Jack Daniel, whose namesake whiskey brand became a global industry
McCoy, Carlton
c. 1985-present
Became, in 2013 at age 28, only the second African American to pass the Master Sommelier examination, widely regarded as the hardest professional exam in the world, with an 8-10% pass rate, and went on to become Napa Valley's first Black CEO