Jack Daniel’s officially recognized Nathan “Nearest” Green as its first master distiller in 2017, giving long-overdue credit to the formerly enslaved man who taught the brand’s founder how to make whiskey decades earlier.
Green’s skills helped shape the Tennessee whiskey-making process that became closely linked to Jack Daniel’s, but his name had remained largely absent from the company’s public history for more than a century.
The recognition followed renewed research into Green’s life and his connection to Jasper Newton “Jack” Daniel, the founder of the famous American whiskey brand.
In August 2017, Brown-Forman, the company that owns Jack Daniel’s, added Green to its official website as the distillery’s first head stiller, a term now commonly known as master distiller.
According to Heritage and Horizon, the company also included his story in its visitor tours and added a permanent display at the Jack Daniel’s Visitors Center in October 2017.
Jack Daniel’s Tennessee whiskey seen at the Rooster Grill Bar counter in Kiev.Photo by Igor Golovniov/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images
The decision marked an important change in how the brand told its history. While Daniel became famous for the whiskey sold under his name, Green had played a major role in teaching him the craft behind it.
Green was born around 1820 and became known as a skilled whiskey distiller in Lincoln County, Tennessee. Records about his early life remain limited, but historical accounts identify him as an enslaved African American man whose knowledge of distilling was highly valued.
During the 1850s, a young Jack Daniel went to work for Dan Call, a local preacher, grocer and distiller in Lynchburg, Tennessee. Daniel became interested in Call’s whiskey-making operation and learned the trade with Green’s help.
Call reportedly introduced Green to the young Daniel by saying, “Uncle Nearest is the best whiskey maker that I know of.”
Call then asked Green to help train the boy in distilling. According to accounts of their relationship, Green taught Daniel the skills needed to operate a still and make whiskey.
Green was enslaved by a firm known as Landis & Green, which likely hired out his services to Call for a fee. This arrangement allowed people who held enslaved workers to earn money from their skills and labor.
Despite the limited written records of Green’s life, his role as Daniel’s teacher became a central part of the story uncovered by researchers and members of the local community.
One of the most important techniques linked to Green was the Lincoln County Process. This method involves filtering newly made whiskey through sugar maple charcoal before placing it in barrels to age, per History.
The charcoal filtering helps give Tennessee whiskey its smooth character. The process later became a defining feature of the style associated with Jack Daniel’s.
Green’s knowledge helped Daniel develop his skills as a distiller. Their working relationship continued beyond the end of slavery, and Green later worked with Daniel as the younger man built his own whiskey business.
After slavery ended in 1865, Daniel went on to establish his own distilling business. His distillery opened in the years following emancipation, and Green continued working in the whiskey trade.
Daniel hired members of Green’s family, including his sons George and Eli. Other descendants also joined the distillery over time, creating a family connection that lasted for generations.
Seven generations of Green’s descendants reportedly worked for or with the Jack Daniel’s distillery. This long connection helped preserve the family’s link to the brand, even while Green himself received little public recognition for many years.
For much of the 20th century, the company’s public story focused mainly on Daniel and the growth of his whiskey business. Green’s contribution remained largely unmentioned in the brand’s official history.
That began to change in 2016, when The New York Times published an article examining Green’s role in teaching Daniel. The report brought wider attention to a story that had been passed down through local families and discussed by historians.
The renewed interest also drew the attention of Fawn Weaver, a researcher and businesswoman who began investigating Green’s life after visiting the Jack Daniel’s distillery in Tennessee.
Weaver reportedly gathered more than 10,000 documents and historical materials connected to Green and his family. Her research helped bring further attention to Green’s role in the early history of the whiskey brand.
In 2017, Brown-Forman formally recognized Green as the distillery’s first head stiller on its website. The company later added his story to its visitor experience, making his contribution more visible to people learning about Jack Daniel’s history.
The recognition helped establish Green’s place in the story of American whiskey. He is widely described as the first African American master distiller on record in the United States, although historical records from the period remain incomplete.
Weaver also founded the Nearest Green Foundation, which supports efforts to preserve Green’s legacy and provide educational opportunities for his descendants.
In July 2017, a separate whiskey brand named Uncle Nearest Premium Whiskey was launched in his honor. The brand was created to recognize Green’s influence on whiskey making and bring his name to a wider audience.
Victoria Eady Butler, Green’s great-great-granddaughter, later became the brand’s master distiller. She is recognized as the first known African American woman to hold that position in the whiskey industry.
Green’s story highlights a part of American whiskey history that went largely unrecognized for generations. His knowledge helped teach a young Daniel the craft of distilling, while his family maintained a connection to the distillery long after his lifetime.
The 2017 recognition did not change the history of how Jack Daniel’s whiskey was made. Instead, it brought greater attention to the person whose skill helped shape that history and gave his name a lasting place in the brand’s story.
Related: In 1951, Rose Totino opened a Minneapolis pizzeria with her husband; 24 years later, she sold Totino’s to Pillsbury for $22 million
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