Uncle Nearest 1856 Premium Aged Whiskey honours Nathan Nearest Green, the formerly enslaved man recognised as the first known African American master distiller on record — and the man who taught a young Jack Daniel how to make Tennessee whiskey. The brand, founded by Fawn Weaver in 2017, became one of the fastest-growing American whiskey brands in history and is now produced at the Nearest Green Distillery in Shelbyville, Tennessee.
The 1856 expression is bottled at 100 proof (50% ABV) and is a sourced and then increasingly self-distilled Tennessee whiskey that undergoes the Lincoln County Process — filtering through sugar maple charcoal before barrelling. That mellowing shows immediately on the nose, which opens with caramelised brown sugar and toasted oak before giving way to baked orchard fruit and a whisper of maple sap.
The palate is where the 100 proof earns its keep. Rich and oily, it layers burnt caramel and dark honey over baked apple, leather and cinnamon bark, with the charcoal filtering lending a clean, almost confectionery sweetness through the midpalate. There is proper Tennessee weight here, unmistakable and confident.
The finish runs long and warming, oak-driven, with dark toffee, clove and lingering vanilla trailing to a final flicker of smoke. 1856 is the flagship and it deserves to be — a whiskey that tastes like its history is being poured alongside it. For the price, it remains one of the most compelling bottles in Tennessee, and its success has helped rewrite the story of American whiskey itself.
