The Father, the Son and the Distilled Spirits: Uncle Nearest

0:16 Oh, hey there, oh hey there. How are you? I'm well. How are you? I'm good. I am Kate. And I am Bradley. And this is History. Buffoons, huzzah, yes yes, yes, welcome to history, buffoons I have a? um surprise for you. Underneath the ottoman underneath yeah, the ottoman right in front of you yeah, how far do I have to reach for that? I mean it's probably closest to me, closer to me than it is to you. I'm kidding, it's probably right there okay put the microphone back. I'm gonna. I premium 1856.

1:00 It's almost as old as me, so so read it out. What is it? so it's a premium whiskey. That gold is like it's shining, so it's hard to read in certain angles. This is is the first expression honoring my great-great-grandfather. I believe we have made him proud with our award-winning whiskey V E D Butler Is that the guy's name, I assume? That's the son, I believe. Yeah. Fifth generation yeah, Wow, that is really 50% alcohol.

1:45 We're only having one yeah, we have a backup uh backup medellos from, uh, from the other episode. So actually I went, I went out and bought more so she could try different flavors. Wow, 100 proof. That's pretty good yeah, so show, show, the camera this is the um Nearest whiskey. So that is our drink today. Okay. So now you get to open it because I don't know how. All right. Well, I might have to edit this out, because this might take me a minute. Oh dear. I got my ice ready. Okay, I'll just toss that there.

2:33 There we go, all right, how are we doing this? Hold, please, okay. He, he, ooh. Smell that sucker. Ooh, that smells good. Oh my goodness. Oh, I'm excited to try this. I've never had this before. I know, oh, really Mm-hmm. What's it smell like? It does smell oaky. Comes from south, a little bit of moss like there's trees nearby that's good oh, that's smooth oh, that's going down real warm maybe two.

3:16 What? you think so? depends how much my ice melts just leave some for n. Oh, I will. I have actually a little bottle, I'll pour some into there. We'll finish off the rest. That's pretty good. Yeah, my first time trying it too. Yeah, you never would guess it's 50%. Wow, that's really good. So can you guess what our story is today I'm gonna go with. We're talking about rum today we're gonna talk about uncle nearest I kind of put that together and I didn't even get it up on my screen yet oh man.

3:57 So what I'm gonna tell you is that's delicious good. Well, she pulls this up. That's really good yeah, I really like him, I wish I had more ice. Oh wow, that's good okay. So, um, yeah, I figured you liked. You like whiskey and this this story is actually somewhat quote-unquote. New, okay, information um what do you mean by that, I guess? um, so I'll explain it a little bit more later. But uncle nearest, who we're going to be speaking about, yeah, wasn't really discovered until recently so like he was around, kind of forgotten.

4:43 Now people found out about him got yes, that's okay gotcha, gotcha yes so our story begins what year? 1853 um about 1820 oh, so I suppose that would make sense, because this is not when he was born. This is what's that say well 1856 sorry 56. Yeah, okay, so we're gonna be in lincoln county tennessee yeah, and this is from shelbyville, tennessee, okay and a reverend dear yeah a reverend named dan call dan call who runs a church? Obviously yeah, and a whiskey still on the side.

5:25 That seems really like odd. I mean, he's saving both spirits, right? Hi, uh hi. The Holy Spirit and the. The Holy Spirit and the distilled spirits. In the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit, the distilled spirits. Maybe that's our title. Father, Son and the Distilled Spirits, yes, oh wow. Oh, I'm going to have to write that one down Father, Son and the Distilled Spirits, Because then we won't have to try. What was our when we were doing our Wizard of Oz episode and I'm like I said something, what the hell was it?

6:06 We had to go search for it. So Okay, so All right, anyways. So Reverend Call needed an expert to run his whiskey still Okay and he knew that there was an expert in town. He was an enslaved man. Oh dear. Named Nathan Green. Nathan Green, nathan Green Okay. Everyone called him nearest. Is there a reason for that? I did not find any, but I did find two different spellings, so like what we would say is nearer, nearest, yeah. And then there's one spelled N-E-A-R-I-S-T instead of E-S-T. Oh, nearest, or near-T, oh Near. East or Near East, I don't know.

6:47 Yeah, okay. There's a couple different variations. Sure, I mean, that's rightly so, because I don't know. He's an insulated man in the 1800s, like in the early to late mid 1800s. Right, he was. There's actually no known photo of. Nearest Of this guy, mm-hmm. Well, I mean, I mean there obviously was photographs back then, but they weren't like everywhere, like like today where everyone's got one in their pocket, kind of thing. Yeah. Um, this feels really good on my knee. I love ice. So Nearest was born around 1820, likely into slavery Right, and by the mid-1800s he gained that reputation of being like a highly skilled distiller.

7:30 Okay. He had in slavers a firm named Landis and Green who would hire him out to local farmers to make top-notch whiskey. Ah, so Dan Call was one of those who basically leased Nearest Services. Okay. So Nearest is like doing all these dangerous dirty work, distilling while somebody else is collecting the profits. essentially, I mean, that's typically what it was common, it was common, and that's what slavery was basically. They would have free labor to make them a lot of money. Yep and they would take the credit for something. Which is unfortunate, but either way, so distilling whiskey in the 19th century was hot, it was back-breaking and it could also blow up in your face, quite literally well, yeah, I mean, distills were very volatile and they could, uh, in a heartbeat, blow up yeah um, I know a lot of.

8:21 Especially. It was in the 1950s when all the moonshine stills and all that, basically how NASCAR got started because of that. Did you know that? So forgive me I'll probably get the year wrong, but somewhere around the 1950s give or take. The whole reason why NASCAR started is because, basically, these still people you know still in moonshine would have to soup up their cars to outrun the cops. So they started doing that and that's why it's very big in the south. Um, but that's how. Basically, n wasn't just a laborer, yeah he they called him like a craftsman essentially did you come across like how he got good at doing this I mean it just, it just blows my mind that, like you know he was, if he was born into slavery, yeah, and obviously they learned skills and whatever.

9:23 Yeah, it's just I find it fascinating that he was able to develop this skill of being really good at distilling. Yeah. So anyway, sorry I think he was just like leased out to so many people that he somehow learned yeah. I mean, that's very, that's very probable. But he specialized in a technique called sugar maple charcoal filtering. Okay. It's also known as the Lincoln County process. Oh, and, we were in Lincoln County, tennessee, yeah, and I will insert a couple of pictures throughout here. Sure, our story as well. Okay. So this meant filtering the raw whiskey through charcoal made from sugar maple wood before aging it right, which mellowed the flavor right.

10:11 Yes, so it made whiskey super smooth and essentially the 19th century version of like a british filter, if you will well, yeah, I believe not just obviously in distilling, but I think charcoal is a naturally good filter for everything Like, even water Like yeah, I've got a charcoal filter for my kiddies water dish. Yeah, exactly so. I wrote down the Brita of bourbon the Brita of bourbon. Oh, my word, we have. We have a competing title. I like that one. Oh, that's funny.

10:51 Oh, golly geez. Okay so. Tennessee whiskey, even today, is defined by that extra charcoal filtering step. Okay. And some historians think that this technique might have been inspired by practices by enslaved people, gotcha, which they carried from west africa, okay, and they would use the charcoal to purify food and water gotcha reverend dan call recognized near skills and folks in the area also kind of knew him and they called him uncle nearest. Okay, and they knew uncle nearest made quality whiskey and they wanted uncle nearest's product yeah, and uncle was kind of a a term of respect as well. Um, so they kind of gave him some pretty high, high praise oh sure, yeah, that makes sense so nearest green enslaved, working on a farm distillery, making what would become Lincoln County's kind of finest whiskey, enter a new character.

11:48 Oh dear. A kid named Jasper Newton Daniel. Jack Daniels. Jack Daniel, yeah, jack Daniel. All right. Mm-hmm. His name was Jasper. Jasper Newton. Daniel, that's awesome. I had a cat named Jasper. Yes, you, daniel. That's awesome. I had a cat named Jasper. Yes, you did, she was cute. She was a female. She was. In the 1850s, young Jack was a farm kid. Okay, he was one of 10 in the family. Yeah. But he was eventually orphaned. His mother had passed away right after his birth and his father died of pneumonia. Oh, dear, yeah away right after his birth and, um, his father died of pneumonia. Oh, dear, yeah, um, I think by this time he was maybe like between six and eight years old, when that, when, he was kind of orphaned a little old, but yeah, still pretty young, yeah, okay yeah, so around seven or eight years old little jack ends up on reverend.

12:38 Dan calls farm as a as a chore boy oh so Jack was kind of a small guy but it was really inquisitive and the whiskey still really fascinated him yeah. I can imagine being you know inquisitive kid, he just like what are you doing? I mean, you've, you've had Vesper. Ask you, what are you doing? What are you doing, Kate? What are you doing? Kate, where are you going, kate? Yeah, why are you doing that, kate? And then where's Kate? She got to feed her kitties. Yeah, pretty much so Jack pestered Reverend Call to teach him the whiskey trade. Okay. And at first the preacher kind of hesitated. He's like eight-year-old running a still.

13:18 I don't know. I was going to say he's pretty young, he's pretty young, but I mean times were different. Yeah, obviously, like if xavier came up and said hey man, can you show me how to still and be like dude? get the fuck out of here, kid you know, but reverend was like well, I got church on sunday, so let's go ahead and do this, yeah I mean I could use, I could use the extra hands and help, because I gotta go spread the word of god while you're spreading. My spirits, my distilled spirits, yeah so um, so reverend call did decide to hand off that teaching to near screen. Sure, I mean, makes sense. Yes, so dan call um introduces them by saying, quote uncle nears is the best whiskey maker that I know of. I want jack to become the world's best whiskey distiller.

14:02 You help me teach him. End quote all right, makes sense so nearest is now the mentor, mentor green the mentee yeah, um well, yeah, I mean he he clearly did a good job, because jack anna's that's got to be one of the biggest whiskeys in the world today, right? Oh yeah, I mean because obviously there's difference between whiskey and bourbon. Um, all bourbon is whiskey, but not all whiskey is bourbon. It's because of the process and all that stuff, but I mean it's very well recognized still today. So so nearest, showed jack how to mash the grain, yeah how to operate the still and, crucially, how to do the special charcoal filtering process okay so through nearest's um guardianship.

14:48 Jack learned the lincoln county process. All right, okay, the this extra step would later differentiate tennessee whiskey to from plain bourbon right yes, I had a brain fart because I was like bourbon no, that's kentucky, not tennessee. And we're in tennessee, yeah, but bourbon, kentucky, bourbon right but bourbon can be made anywhere I mean, there's just a specific kentucky bourbon right. I mean there's a lot. There's a lot of distilleries in kentucky that make bourbon. You know, angels envy and um, oh my God, we passed a few when we were down there.

15:32 Uh, other ones that I'm. Why, for some reason, draw a blank? Maybe because I want another drink of this? So this distilling process, filtering, process it, what is what makes Jack Daniel's whiskey tastes like Jack Daniel's whiskey? Okay, okay, and it came from Nears Green Fucking. A right so the kid was a quick study. As he grew into his teens, Jack not only learned to make great whiskey, but he also learned to sell it. Oh sure, by the time the Civil War was raging in the early 1860s, Jack was out there peddling the whiskey to soldiers who were stationed nearby. Well, I mean smart Uh-huh, so he would sell his whiskey to any soldier, Union or Confederate.

16:14 Yeah. Why discriminate there? A buck's a buck. Exactly he's just trying to keep the people happy and make money yeah. I wrote down war is hell, but whiskey will take that edge off. War got you down. Take that edge off. War got you down. Take the edge off jesus christ um, so jack and the ears had developed this awesome whiskey that people in town loved, the soldiers loved. They also developed like a genuine friendship with each other. Um, over those years of working so did this? did he have a name for it already when he was selling it at this time? I do have a picture of one of their very first jugs and I don't remember the year that it was on, but this is still operating under Dan call.

16:58 Gotcha, okay, gotcha. So, um, by all accounts, nearest and Jack uh respected each other, they liked each other, and Jack Daniel Litter spoke openly about how much he owed to Nearest as his teacher and his mentor. In fact, one of Nearest's descendants put it, quote there would never have been Jack Daniels made without a green on the property. End quote. I mean they're not wrong, that's awesome. They gave him the props for it. Jack daniel's made without a green on the property, end quote. I mean they're not wrong, that's that's awesome. They gave him the props for it because clearly he was integral into daniel learning his craft, so it makes sense so by the end of the civil war, jack daniel has grown from a kid to who knew nothing, to into a talented distiller, um in a businessman, all thanks to Nears' mentorship.

17:48 Right, and Nears by this time had gone from being Jack's teacher to effectively his right-hand man on the whiskey operation. So big changes were coming. The war ended, slavery was abolished Yep, and we were about to kind of negotiate this whole new world and what it would look like, right. So in 1865, after the war, said you know, that's a wrap. Um, nearest green was freed. Um, no longer somebody's property, finally able to be paid for his work, which is great. And um, this probably was like just a huge deal for him.

18:30 Yeah, but um, they ended up keeping him around. Well, why wouldn't they? yeah, I mean he was a great worker, he learned his stuff and he's helping him out. I mean it's just a little bit different role, yeah, meaning he gets paid for it now so reverend dan calls congregation wasn't exactly pleased that a preacher was kind of moonlighting as a whiskey maker. Can you blame him? I mean, it seems like contradictory to your lifestyle yeah. It just seems weird. I mean, I'm okay with it, but I can see how, especially back then, people being as religious as they were, yeah. Especially down south, like that Is Tennessee, considered part of the Bible Belt. I don't know what that whole is, but close enough nonetheless um by association anyway well, right, but either way um you're right there.

19:18 Yeah, oh, the coaster stuck um. I forgot what I was saying. I'm sorry that's all right. Tennessee bible belt I can understand why people would be like choose God or choose whiskey, but you can't have both. I mean, but can't you? So Reverend Call decided to stick it out with God and he sold his distillery to Jack Daniel, makes sense. He was only in his like mid-teens at this point. Wow, yeah, um, and then this is when I'll put in jack daniel's like first jug. oh sure that was about 1865, 1870, somewhere around there okay or that might have been how long they used it, that five years oh sure um.

20:01 Jack um was young, he took over the operation in 1866 and he registered the distillery as jack daniel distillery okay okay, um so his last name was actually just daniel, not daniels, correct? so he put an apost. Is it like apostrophe s on the logo it is okay I guess I never really paid attention to that it would be bradley's whiskey. Right, that's what it would be right jack daniel's whiskey okay, yeah, gotcha um so I wrote down what were you doing at 16 I was in high school, yeah, I was like I was driving my burgundy dodge spirit without a muffler because I ran over a Christmas tree at one point.

20:46 Spirit, yeah, another spirit Look at that Ties together. Don't look at that. Well fancy that. So as soon as Jack was the boss, he hired Nearest Green as the first master distiller. Okay, the title wasn't just ceremonial, it meant Nearest was in charge of making the whiskey, overseeing production and keeping the quality top notch. So, um, this kind of appointment, made near screen, the first african-american master distiller recorded in us history that's awesome yeah, nice yeah, so they did use the term like head stiller in those days, but it's the same as what we would call master distiller now, yeah, okay, different title, same position.

21:31 Yes, gotcha Okay. So Jack Daniel knew the value of Nearest Green and Nearest Green's family. Oh sure. So he kind of helped start a family tradition. He hired several of Nearest's sons to work at this distillery almost immediately nice. So records show that at least three of nearest sons, george, eli and louis or eddie they're not sure which one joined the jack daniel distillery staff in those earlier years and then over time jack's operation became like a multi-generational family affair for the green family right. So seven straight generations of nearest green's descendants have worked for jack daniel in lynchburg.

22:20 That's fucking wild. I'm gonna insert a picture here of Jack Daniel in a hat and we think it's nearest son, george, right next to him. Like I said earlier, there's no known photo of nearest yeah so this is a picture of us. We likely think it's his son, George. Okay. Makes sense. So, by all accounts, jack Daniel treatedarest and his sons well for the era they were paid. Um, they were all local, it's like they didn't have to travel very far, and um, the Green family did quite well after the Civil War, sure, so um Nearest and his wife Harriet also owned several sizable plots of land, something that really didn't happen.

23:06 Right, yeah, that's very was very uncommon at the time so you can understand that the jack daniels distillery probably made him very wealthy in a sense, yeah for the time, yes, yes, especially for his position. I mean obviously coming out of the. He had nothing technically because, everything was someone else's at the time. So yeah, I mean he did very well for himself. So the distillery prospered and the Green family never were like equity holders in the company, but they were never left destitute. They built their lives around this distillery. They were taken care of because of work and everything at the yeah makes sense so jack became a famous name, a brand yep and eventually a huge money maker.

23:53 Oh yeah, in 1956 jack's heirs sold the distillery to the said 50, 1950, excuse me, 1956. Okay, 20 million, obviously, and 56 is a lot different than today 190 million that still seems low. Oh, I don't know, that's a lot it's a lot of money, but just think if they sold it today, how much they would sell it. Yeah, probably a lot more than $200 million but it wasn't as famous. Well, of course, of course not. But, and of course the money didn't go to nearest family.

24:35 Of course not. They didn't have a stake in the company, but they did get decent wages, but not technically a cut of Jack's millions or whatever. Well, it wasn't his company, so that's understandable. And Jack Daniels' brand grew world famous. Nearest Green's name faded into the background. It's vanished. Locals in Lynchburg knew the story Sure, the story of the man who taught Jack the descendants of greens that kept on in the distillery business, but outside of town nobody heard of nearest green which is understandable so so the official company line became jack daniel learned to make whiskey from reverend dan call that's terrible so for a long time.

25:24 That's how it stayed okay, I mean, yeah, unfortunately, with how things were back then, yeah, it's really sad, but I get it. It sucks, but I get it so by the 2000s. Yes, jack daniel's household name worldwide 100, but no one knew about nearest green. No, it's not that the story was completely lost. Um, there was actually a biography about jack in 1967 okay um by a writer named ben green, which is no relation to nearest, obviously and he actually did mention nearest and jack's relationship. Okay. Okay, the book became a sort of like Bible in Lynchburg Locals and Jack Daniels.

26:10 Insiders knew Uncle Nearest, as was part of the story. Sure, but the company's official history in the marketing nothing. Never said anything, nothing. Tour guys at the distillery didn't mention him Right, two were guys at the distillery didn't mention him. It was like this open but not open secret that never made it into the history of Jack Daniels Distillery. It took until 2016. Oh, so geez, nine years ago 150 years after Jack Daniel opened his distillery, for the wider world to finally catch on. Okay, in June 2016, the New York times published an article that outed this quote hidden figure behind Jack Daniel's whiskey.

26:58 The headline teased the distillery's hidden ingredient help from a slave. So suddenly, nearest. The story is everywhere and there was a piece by Clay Risen from the New York Times that said, quote hey, fyi, the iconic Jack Daniel learned distilling from an enslaved black man named Nearest Green end. Quote, and it was big news to those who haven't heard it before. I just found out about it, maybe three months ago okay okay, um, the company brown foreman, which owns jack daniels, responded by saying they were just about to make nearest story public as part of their 150th anniversary.

27:43 Were they, though? Though we were so close you beat us to it, no. You jumped the gun, that's I mean you'd like you hope that they. They're telling the truth. Yeah, but either way. So according to them, it wasn't like a deliberate coverup, just that the story wasn't well documented or had been overlooked, so to speak. Right, so record keeping was obviously spotty back in the 1800s and jack daniel's marketing from the mid 1900s kind of glossed over it, right, um, but the cup the company did publicly acknowledge it in 2016. That nears his greens role, um, what his role was, and they promised to weave him into, um, the jack dan Daniels history and the tours going forward.

28:26 I find it funny because they almost make it seem like it's. They try to make it seem like it was scandalous. It's really not. It's really not. It's just is what it is. Unfortunately, it wasn't a scandal like they cut him out of the fortune or whatever scenario you want to make up. It's just that's how it was kind of thing. So are you abandoning ship on that? No, I'm still going to drink it. Okay, I want a little bit more Ice gets in my way. Yeah, and. I can't like drink a good drink with ice. I have to have a straw, and you don't do straws with whiskey. That would be weird. That would be weird. So I need just a good gulp. And it's going to be the Modelo Pina Pina.

29:07 Perfect Spanish. Yes, that's good too. Okay, so around this time the story caught the attention of a woman named Fawn Weaver. Okay, she is an author and entrepreneur and a fan of good storytelling. Essentially, she heard about Nearscreen and Jack Daniels' plans to honor him, so she visited Lynchburg, took the distillery tour Actually, she took three different tours. Oh, all right. And guess what what? Not a single mention of Nearscreen. Maybe they hadn't got the new script yet. Apparently not, but in true badass fashion she took matters into her own hands.

29:53 Oh dear. She embarked on a 12-month research mission to uncover everything about Nearest Green's life. Right. She hired a team of more than 20 historians Holy shit Archivists, archaeologists, you name it. They scoured archives, dug through libraries and county records, interviewed nearest descendants and hunted down pretty much any scrap of information that they could Sure Makes sense. In the end, fawn gathered over 10,000 documents confirming and expanding on Nearest Green's story. Oh nice, she filled in a lot of blanks. Okay, so Nearest was a nickname that he adopted after emancipation.

30:37 Oh, not prior to. Not prior to Gotcha, sorry, I had written that down and forgot about it. Okay, no worries, but she also solidified Ne nearest place as the first ever black master distiller in america. Wow, okay so her research gained national attention by 2017, and it game gave brown foreman the push to actually do something finally embrace the story. Sure, by the august of 2017, jack daniel's parent company officially updated his website to list near screen as the first master distiller, okay, and a couple months later they unveiled unveiled a new display about nearest at the jack daniel's visitor center, and every tour also mentions him.

31:21 Oh good, so yes, there's even a photograph in jack daniel's old office, um, on that tour that um has that george the son and jack daniels together so is the current distillery still like? obviously a lot bigger, but is it where the original one was when he started it, or did? it move. The dan call um because that wasn't in lynchburg no, that wasn't what I said. It was in lincoln county. I don't remember something like that. Yeah, um, so that house is still there the house is still there, yes, but that's not where, jack, that's where they started the distillery under dan call, though yes, yes, and then he sold in the business and then he moved it he must have.

32:05 Yeah, I didn't research into that's okay, tour or anything I just didn't think it was the same spot, that's all yeah, I just want to see. So that kind of brings us to the, the final part of our story okay so nearscreen's legacy went from the display in someone else's distillery to his name on a whole new bottle. So is this actually from the Jack Daniels Company? No. This is from a descendant right. I will tell you. Okay. So after Fawn Weaver, the author had uncovered the full story of Nearest Green, she met with Nearest Living Descendants and basically asked how would they like their patriarch to be honored?

32:56 Okay. And they said put his name on a bottle of whiskey. Sure, I mean, that's what he was known for. So, in 2017, 2017 she had a team launch uncle nearest premium whiskey, a new tennessee whiskey brand. Honoring, honoring nearest green so does. Does the family get profits from this, since they're using his name? I don't know. I didn't look into that because I feel like they should. I would think so because otherwise I feel like she's just using that name for her benefit. So they released the first bottle in July 2017. Okay, so wow, it's been around for eight years. But still that's not very long at all. No, it's very new and I've never heard of this until today.

33:39 Yep. So Fawn Weaver built Uncle Nearest Whiskey into a very serious business very, very fast. Right In just a couple of years Uncle Nearest became the fastest growing independent American whiskey brand in US history. Wow, it was doubling sales. Quarter after quarter won a ton of awards and by 2019, they had sold tens of thousands of cases across the country. So where did they get the recipe for this? I don't know that wasn't a part of your research no, sorry it's okay, I just I'm curious. It's like, you know, did they uncover an old recipe from uncle nearest or something like that?

34:24 It's like they obviously hire a new master distiller today, so like he came up with his own and just slapped a name on it. You're going to have to read her book, cause she has a book written about him. I might have to listen to a book. I don't know if I have time to read one. Oh, my goodness, okay, so um, they built a new distillery in Shelbyville, tennessee which is about an hour from Lynchburg. Okay, in 2019, fawn had raised around $40 million from investors to make this all happen. The nearest green distillery opened with this big mission to be the Disneyland of distilleries, as Fawn put it. Oh Jesus, a museum, a tasting room, a massive bar, plans for a future music venue all for Nearest, yeah, so one of the key people crafting his whiskey is Victoria Eddie Butler, which is Nearest Green's great, great granddaughter Nice, and she came on board as the master blender.

35:25 Okay, granddaughter nice, and she came on board as the master blender. Okay, um, she had retired from jack daniels after 31 years there and then joined uncle nearest to carry on that legacy. That's cool, yeah. Um, so the family that once helped start jack daniels is now running and running their own whiskey. It's pretty cool. That's cool, yeah. Nearest Whiskey has racked up over 700 medals in spirit competitions Wow and was named Spirit Brand of the Year by Wine Enthusiast. And by 2022, the company's valuation is that how you say it? Evaluation? I think so. Surpassed $1 billion $1 billion with a B Wow, that's impressive.

36:06 yeah, good lord so jack daniel's folks didn't say congrats and step aside. They actually did team up with uncle, uncle nearest, okay, um, in 2020, the two companies announced the nearest and jack advancement initiative, pledging five million dollars to help increase diversity in the whiskey industry. Okay, they funded a nearest green school of distilling and apprenticeships program. To go into it. Very cool. I should go take one of those, that'd be great. Yes, I wouldn't mind that at all. That's cool that they would start something like that. It's nice when they put stuff back out there with their profits instead of just being douchebags and pocketing it for their CEO.

36:51 Yeah, so he's finally Nearest, is finally getting his due. His name is on an award-winning bottle, there's a foundation in his honor, there's a memorial park and it plans for a museum. Um, and nearest is now everywhere. People are finally knowing who he is awesome, yes, so every time you pour a little glass of whiskey think of uncle nearest nearest because I mean he was a front runner and making it popular. Really, I mean it wouldn't be for him there. The coaster keeps sticking to my glass. I know it's a little uh. That's why I have my. I hadn't rested mine on my knee and my shorts are right next to it, and so my shorts are all wet.

37:34 It's okay, though, cause it feels nice. Um, but yeah, I mean Jack Daniels, I mean, who knows if that would even be a thing if it wasn't for him, kind of of situation. So makes sense that he's finally getting his recognition, his due so um just real quick, um, fawn weaver wrote a book yeah, do you have the title of that book? it's called love and whiskey, okay, and the picture is of jack daniels and the son, george, okay, um, let me see if I find a year that this one, 2024. Oh so literally last year, Literally just came out, literally just came out. I do have the book on my Kindle because I was reading it in preparation for this, but it's a little dense, oh really, and it's very much like Fawn's discovery as well, and like her journey through this as well.

38:28 So Okay, but I mean I get it. Yeah, she's on a mission. Yeah, I mean she's on a spiritual mission. A spiritual mission, a distillery mission, distillery spiritual mission. The father, the son and the distilled spirits. Okay, so what'd you think of? Uncle Nearest. I was kind of disappointed that most of my ice melted Because I wanted a smidge more. But I got more ice downstairs. Hello smidge. Hello smidge. No, that was really smooth. It has a good flavor to it. Yeah. I rather enjoyed it Good. No, that was really smooth. It has a good flavor to it. Yeah, I rather enjoyed it Good. Yeah, it wasn't bad at all.

39:09 I'm excited to have a little bit more. Yeah. A smidge more. A smidge more A smidge more. Yeah. Yeah. So yeah, what do you think of it? I like it. I'm not a huge straight whiskey drinker, which is why it's taking me a little bit. But it is super, super good for straight whiskey. You typically don't just drink straight booze. I don't, or on the rocks, for that matter. So that's understandable why it would be a little slower. I do like to partake in a glass like this from time to time. I don't do it that often anymore, yeah, but I do like having one. So that was a nice change of pace, because you know I love beer, but sometimes you just need a cocktail.

39:51 Yeah. You know what I'm saying. Yeah. But uh, this hibiscus one is fucking delicious too. That's awesome. Just put some bourbon or whiskey in that, no maybe not. Why not, well, I suppose All. No, maybe not. Why not, well, I suppose? all right, buffoons, that's it for today's episode buckle up, because we've got another historical adventure waiting for you. Next time feeling hungry for more buffoonery, or maybe you have a burning question or a wild historical theory for us to explore hit us up on social media. We're history History Buffoons Podcast on YouTube X, instagram and Facebook. You can also email us at historybuffoonspodcast at gmailcom.

40:31 We are Bradley and Kate. Music by Corey Akers. Follow us wherever you get your podcasts and turn those notifications on to stay in the loop. Until next time, stay curious and don't forget to rate and review us. Remember, the buffoonery never stops.