Nathan “Nearest” Green is one of the most influential, yet long-overlooked, figures in the history of American whiskey. Born into slavery in the early 19th century, Green’s extraordinary skill as a distiller became the cornerstone of what would grow into one of the most iconic spirits brands in the world, Jack Daniel’s.
The roots of American whiskey are deeply entangled with slavery. Enslaved Africans were commonly forced into skilled labour roles, including carpentry, rice farming, blacksmithing, and distilling. By the mid-19th century, whiskey had become a booming business in Tennessee and Kentucky, and enslaved African men, particularly those who had a keen sense of timing, fermentation, and fire management, were often trusted with the complex and dangerous work of running the stills.
Nathan Green was one of these men. Although little is known about his early life, records indicate that he was owned by a firm called Landis & Green. At some point in the 1850s, Green was hired out to work on the property of Dan Call, a Lynchburg, Tennessee preacher, grocer, and distiller who operated a still on his land.
It was here that a young white orphan named Jasper Newton “Jack” Daniel came to work. Jack had lost his mother as an infant, and eventually became estranged from his father’s new family. Call took him in and introduced him to the distilling world, but not through his own hands.
Call instead instructed young Jack to learn from the man actually running the stills: Nathan Green.
Although only a few years older than Daniel, Green was already a master of the craft. He had perfected the charcoal-filtering process, known today as the “Lincoln County Process”, which gives Tennessee whiskey its signature smoothness. This method, which involves filtering the whiskey through sugar maple charcoal before aging, became central to the identity of Jack Daniel’s whiskey.
Nearest didn’t just teach Jack Daniel how to make whiskey. He was the distillery’s first master distiller, then called a “head stiller”, and supervised every aspect of production, from mashing to fermentation to distillation.
Green’s influence was so profound that Jack Daniel himself openly credited him as his mentor, a rare gesture in a time when white businessmen often erased the contributions of Black labourers.
When slavery ended in 1865 with the ratification of the 13th Amendment, Nearest Green became a free man. The following year, Jack Daniel officially launched his distillery and hired several of Green’s sons to work alongside him. These included George Green, Eli Green, and Edde Green, each of whom inherited their father’s skill. Over time, at least four grandchildren joined as well, and by 2017, seven generations of Green’s descendants had worked for the distillery.
Green and his wife, Harriet, had eleven children, nine sons and two daughters, many of whom remained in Lynchburg. The 1870 and 1880 U.S. Census records confirm the names and presence of many of the Green children, further grounding this story in documented American history.
Despite Green’s central role in the development of Jack Daniel’s whiskey, his name faded from public memory. For more than 150 years, mainstream whiskey culture celebrated Jack Daniel while ignoring the African American hands that shaped the recipe, the process, and the success.
That began to change in 2016, when author and entrepreneur Fawn Weaver discovered Green’s story and made it her mission to restore his legacy. She founded the Nearest Green Foundation, dedicated to honoring his contributions through education and public history. The foundation funds scholarships for Green’s descendants, supports historical research, and helped launch a museum and memorial park in Lynchburg.
In 2017, Weaver also co-founded Uncle Nearest Premium Whiskey, a brand named in Green’s honor and dedicated to his memory. The whiskey has won dozens of awards and gained international acclaim, not just for its flavor, but for the story it tells.
That same year, Brown-Forman Corporation, which owns the Jack Daniel brand, formally recognized Green as its first master distiller and added his name to company history. His legacy now features in the official Jack Daniel’s tour, website and has a permanent presence at the distillery’s visitors center.
Among Green’s modern descendants is Victoria Eady Butler, now the first known African-American female whiskey master blender, continuing her ancestor’s legacy of excellence in spirits.
Source:
https://www.jackdaniels.com/vault/how-jack-daniel-came-make-whiskey
https://www.npr.org/2017/09/03/548342180/nearest-green-the-man-who-taught-jack-daniels-about-whiskey
https://www.entrepreneur.com/leadership/her-great-great-grandfather-taught-jack-daniel-how-to/451032
