Happy Kwanzaa, today is Ujima, the third day of Kwanzaa. It is the Principle meaning collective work and responsibilities. It refers to uplifting your community.

I am not here today to educate you about Kwanzaa, however, for anyone wishing to know more, visit You Tube. There is a short Black Excellence video which defines Kwanzaa as well as describes the Seven Principles.

The question of the day is, do you know Uncle Nearest? It was two years ago at Thanksgiving that I was introduced to Uncle Nearest. The day after Thanksgiving family gathered. Present were my Aunt and Uncle, my 1st cousin and his wife from Oakland Ca., my 2nd cousin, his youngest daughter, and her husband from Va., another cousin and his wife and their son from Youngstown.

My Cousin and her husband decided to have a whiskey tasting. She of course had to get permission from her Grandparents since they do not drink. After getting the okay the two of them proceeded to the State store and returned with a variety of Kentucky and Tennessee whiskeys. Several members at the table were given a note card describing one of the whiskeys. Before each tasting the holder of the note card had to read the history of the whiskey.

One of those whiskeys was Uncle Nearest. In Lynchburg, Tennessee an enslaved Black man, known as Uncle Nearest, was well known to all. Given the birth name Nathan Green, he was known as Uncle Nearest to his family, friends, and others in the community who loved him. Born in 1820, he died in 1890. It is unclear how he got to Tennessee, he hailed from Maryland. It was the era of slavery so who knows?

It can be confirmed that Uncle Nearest was the first African American master distiller on record in the United States. He is responsible for helping to perfect the Lincoln County Process. That process is required to be categorized as Tennessee Whiskey.

Nathan “Uncle Nearest” Green taught Jasper Daniel, the founder of Jack Daniel’s Distillery, how to distill. Of course we all know Jack Daniel’s became a well known whiskey and has achieved multiple awards.

Founded in 2017 a new distillery was built just down the road from Jack Daniel’s, some of Nathan’s descendants work there today. Of course it was built to honor the man who was the true founder of Jack Daniel’s whiskey.

The Nearest Green distillery has produced three whiskeys. Uncle Nearest 1856 Premium Whiskey, 100 proof, Uncle Nearest 1884 Small Batch Whiskey, 93 proof, and Nearest Green Single Barrell Edition which was aged 11 years while the distillery was being completed.

Post covid I definitely will be taking a road trip to Lynchburg, Tn. Nearest Green Distillery, here I come!