Uncle Nearest has reportedly found a new buyer.
According to The Spirits Business, a non-binding letter of intent has been signed for the whiskey brand. Uncle Nearest’s receiver, Phillip G. Young Jr., would sell both the brand and the Nearest Green Distillery in Shelbyville, TN. The sale wouldn’t include Grant Sidney Inc., the largest shareholder of the company. Uncle Nearest Co-Founder Fawn Weaver is the majority owner of Grant Sidney Inc., as AFROTECH™ previously reported. The sale also doesn’t include a property in Massachusetts or one in Cognac, France, which has been receiving inquiries since October 2025, per The Spirits Business.
Although the buyer has not been named, it is reportedly a Black-owned investment firm that would keep the current Uncle Nearest workforce while honoring the brand’s “cultural significance,” such as the legacy of Nathan “Nearest Green,” a formerly enslaved man who taught Jack Daniel how to make whiskey, according to AFROTECH™. Per the outlet, Green is recognized as the first known Black master distiller in the United States.
The buyer prefers to share its identity once the sale is finalized, according to The Spirits Business. The transaction is expected to close within 45 days.
Young was instated as receiver in August 2025 after the company defaulted on more than $108 million in loans owed to creditor Farm Credit Mid-America, per AFROTECH™.
While Fawn, her husband, Keith, and Grant Sidney Inc. have been fighting for the receivership to end, U.S. District Judge Charles Atchley has ruled that it should remain in place. The receivership was also extended to include Grant Sidney Inc., following the concealment of a $20 million loan from MP-Tenn LLC, otherwise known as MarcyPen, to a CalPrivate account owned by Grant Sidney Inc, AFROTECH™ previously reported.
According to the outlet, the judge stated that Uncle Nearest has “engaged in fraudulent conduct through its former CFO and through the help of (Fawn Weaver’s investment firm) Grant Sidney and Fawn Weaver. Without a receiver, Farm Credit’s collateral would be at risk.”
Atchley claims that Uncle Nearest owes $207.9 million and is “insolvent,” according to AFROTECH™
Uncle Nearest is reportedly also being investigated by federal authorities, per the outlet. There is no further details about the federal investigation.
