Black-Owned Uncle Nearest Whiskey Crosses $100M Sales Milestone
Uncle Nearest Whiskey has made history, becoming the most successful Black-owned distillery in the world with $100 million in sales. On Tuesday (Dec. 5), the brand announced that it had officially crossed the $100 million mark through Oct. 2022. Furthermore, Uncle Nearest estimated that the sales wouldn’t slow in 2023, with the premium spirits brand expected to double its historic achievement by the end of the new year.
CEO Fawn Weaver spoke about the accomplishment in an official press release, pledging to use some of the proceeds to put Nearest Green’s “college-age descendants through college.”
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“To reach this and every other milestone on our horizon,” Weaver said, “we continue to push nonstop. Every penny this company has earned has gone back into the business, as well as to put Nearest Green’s college-age descendants through college and to invest in minority-owned businesses and entrepreneurs through our Black Business Booster program (BBB), the Nearest and Jack Advancement Initiative (NJAI) and Uncle Nearest Ventures.”
“Every cent we make in the future will continue to do the same. We have an entire generation of women and people of color, who represent 70 percent of our country but still feel marginalized and underrepresented, counting on us.”
The accomplished CEO continued, detailing the brand’s responsibility to uphold Black excellence as proof “anything is possible.”
“This group continues to look to Uncle Nearest as proof that anything is possible. We will not let them down. With the support of one of the most loyal consumer bases in spirits, we will continue to do the ‘impossible’ so they know, as long as they operate in excellence and refuse to give up, they can achieve whatever their heart believes.”
Weaver founded the company in 2017, and it became the best-selling Black American-founded, owned, and led alcohol brand in American history. Uncle Nearest Premium Whiskey has since been the most-awarded Bourbon and American Whiskey of 2019, 2020, and 2021, garnering critical acclaim from every corner of the liquor industry.
Victoria Eady Butler, the great-great-granddaughter of Uncle Nearest, née Nearest Green, offered insight into the challenging five years since the brand’s inception, acknowledging that there were people who expected them to fail.
“For the longest time, folks were sitting around waiting for us to fail. First, they underestimated us, then they expected us to fail,” Butler said. “I guess they do that with independent companies owned by women or people of color. Well, more than five years into this level of growth, y’all can stop waiting.
“We are not a fad or some trendy brand – we are a purpose-driven, mission-oriented company. Uncle Nearest and Nearest Green Distillery aren’t just here to stay, but to grow and sustain at a pace never seen before in our industry.”
