Speaker 1: Hey, this is Anny and Samantha.
Speaker 2: I'm welcome to Steff. I never told you a production
Speaker 2: of iHeartRadio, and I wanted to bring back a classic
Speaker 2: we did. This was one of our third happy hour
Speaker 2: we ever did, Samantha. Oh, uncle nearest whiskey. Yes, yes,
Speaker 2: I mentioned this. I cannot remember for the life of
Speaker 2: me in what episode, but I mentioned it recently in
Speaker 2: an episode I believe we were talking about how after
Speaker 2: the audiobook experience, we had such a great team and
Speaker 2: we gifted the audio engineer with some uncle nearest whiskey,
Speaker 2: and I mentioned that they are now the largest Grand
Speaker 2: Champagne vineyard owner in Cognac, France.
Speaker 1: Ool.
Speaker 2: So yes, that's a bit of an update, very exciting.
Speaker 2: I can't wait to see what comes of it. We'll
Speaker 2: have to do revisit.
Speaker 1: We need to get a bottle obviously.
Speaker 3: Yeah, we need to get a bottle. But there were
Speaker 3: a lot of news stories about it.
Speaker 2: And it was really cool because I was like, oh,
Speaker 2: I know them, like I know who you're talking about.
Speaker 2: So that's always fun. But yes, I wanted to bring
Speaker 2: back this classic episode in spirit of that, no pun intended,
Speaker 2: so please enjoy it.
Speaker 4: Cool.
Speaker 1: Hey, this is Sandy and Samantha.
Speaker 3: I'm welcome to Stefan Never told You Production ByHeart Radio.
Speaker 4: Okay, Happy Thursday, Happy wind down. To everyone who is
Speaker 4: joining us for our Happy Hour segment. Yes, and to you,
Speaker 4: my friend.
Speaker 3: And to you, we're happy to have you.
Speaker 1: I can't help it.
Speaker 4: Every time I do this, I had that like I
Speaker 4: have to ease my voice and get really calm. For
Speaker 4: some reason, I guess that's what I associate with happy Hour.
Speaker 4: I don't know if this is your first time joining us,
Speaker 4: Go grab your favorite beverage, whether it's a cocktail, a
Speaker 4: sparkling water, or coffee, and let's cheers to the almost
Speaker 4: end of the week. And I know a lot of
Speaker 4: people's work schedule does not operate like that. And if
Speaker 4: your job is never ending, like parenting, we know this
Speaker 4: might be a small break to the continued hard work
Speaker 4: you're putting in.
Speaker 1: But hopefully you can take a break with us.
Speaker 4: Or perhaps you're like me and don't even freaking realize
Speaker 4: what day of the week it is, So there's that.
Speaker 3: Well.
Speaker 2: Also, we're not necessarily recording this on Thursday.
Speaker 3: Peep behind the curtains, so.
Speaker 4: Don't tell people we're pretending. Obviously, you already know. We've
Speaker 4: talked many times how we do record ahead of time
Speaker 4: just for all intent and purposes. But a quick reminder,
Speaker 4: these are not sponsored and I picked them because it
Speaker 4: is female focused and often created and owned and controlled
Speaker 4: by women and just non binary folks and are doing
Speaker 4: some amazing things. So I just wanted to highlight their
Speaker 4: amazing work. And today I'm gonna go ahead and take
Speaker 4: a real quick seap, y'all. Don't beat me.
Speaker 3: Out of my Last of Us two cup that I
Speaker 3: gave you.
Speaker 4: Yes, yes, it's true, you gave me a nice little
Speaker 4: whiskey glass. Today we wanted to walk down the history
Speaker 4: and history making of a delightful distillery from Lynchburg, Texas,
Speaker 4: Uncle Nearest whiskey, And yes, I am right now currently
Speaker 4: sipping out of the wonderful class that you bought for
Speaker 4: me for Christmas, because we have all bonded over the
Speaker 4: Last of Us too. Even if I don't play video games,
Speaker 4: we've definitely bonded. It's an emotional situation, it really was.
Speaker 4: But we are sipping on Uncle Nearest at eighteen eighty
Speaker 4: four small batch whiskey, and I will tell you it
Speaker 4: is a delight And though there are specific cocktails you
Speaker 4: can make from their site, and they look like really
Speaker 4: great recipes.
Speaker 1: You go check it out.
Speaker 4: I'm lying just the easy burning caramel goodness with a
Speaker 4: single ice cube.
Speaker 1: Me too. I was gonna say that a big square cube.
Speaker 1: You do?
Speaker 4: You go?
Speaker 1: Oh, you got the fancy ones? We ran out, so
Speaker 1: we have the baby ones.
Speaker 4: So but the smell of it is the life while
Speaker 4: it really is just buttery, caramel, fresh and honestly, it
Speaker 4: took me a long time to really appreciate and like whiskey,
Speaker 4: but this one was easy to get into. I don't
Speaker 4: know if I was prepared for it or something, but
Speaker 4: it definitely has made a claim and I could taste it.
Speaker 4: I can taste how thoughtful the process went in to
Speaker 4: creating this drink.
Speaker 2: But first I was gonna ask you if you if
Speaker 2: you're a whiskey person, because, as we've talked about in
Speaker 2: some episodes and some of these happy hours, there is
Speaker 2: kind of a gendered aspect to a lot of alcohol,
Speaker 2: to everything in general, but alcohol. And I remember when
Speaker 2: I first started drinking liquor in college, I thought whiskey
Speaker 2: was the coolest thing, of course to.
Speaker 3: Drink, and I liked it.
Speaker 2: I always liked it, but I do think one of
Speaker 2: the reasons I chose it was because I thought it
Speaker 2: was cool and like put hair on your chest, manly
Speaker 2: man drinks, and if I ordered it then men would
Speaker 2: be like, oh, she can hold her liquor, and or
Speaker 2: you'd get really weird assumptions that you're like easy to
Speaker 2: sleep with.
Speaker 3: It was strange.
Speaker 4: Oh that's interesting. So for me, whiskey was not a
Speaker 4: go too. I am definitely a cocktail person and or
Speaker 4: a straight beer person, like or I love red wine,
Speaker 4: so those were kind of my go tos, and it's
Speaker 4: easier for me. I grew to appreciate whiskey and the
Speaker 4: barrel aging process. Still not a huge fan of scotch,
Speaker 4: doesn't mean we're not going to try it, but this one,
Speaker 4: I think they're definitely you can tell what's quality.
Speaker 1: And what is EH, and the EH is like, uh,
Speaker 1: I'm good without it. I'll put that with some diet coke.
Speaker 1: I'm good.
Speaker 4: But for this level, yeah, I definitely appreciate it and
Speaker 4: definitely enjoy it and need batches and batches and batches
Speaker 4: of it.
Speaker 3: I'm okay.
Speaker 2: Well, it's interesting too because my grandparents love scotch, so
Speaker 2: I have like a family history with Scotch.
Speaker 3: But also when I was writing this story, one of
Speaker 3: my main.
Speaker 2: Characters she was an alcoholic, and I was like, I
Speaker 2: don't want her to drink whiskey because that's the go
Speaker 2: to thing, but it does seem to be the thing
Speaker 2: that you see in entertainment where you know they're drinking
Speaker 2: something hard than it's whiskey. I went with Gin because
Speaker 2: her name is jin and I thought it was funny.
Speaker 2: But anyway, we did want to talk about some history here,
Speaker 2: so of Uncle Nearest, not of what all we've.
Speaker 3: Been talking about.
Speaker 2: Von Weaver is the CEO and founder of the Uncle
Speaker 2: Nearest Distillery, and what began is just the research writing
Speaker 2: project for her newest book turned into creating a business
Speaker 2: and a unique model within the alcohol industry. Her research
Speaker 2: not only took her to Lynchburg to interview descendants and
Speaker 2: do a deep dive in the local libraries, but also
Speaker 2: brought her to the place where the original whiskey was created.
Speaker 4: And by the way, she is actually a best selling
Speaker 4: author and is known as that in the historian. So
Speaker 4: she definitely took all of her gifts and made and
Speaker 4: created such a great brand. Yeah, and after coming across
Speaker 4: an article mentioning Nathan Neares Green, a former and slaved individual,
Speaker 4: she learned that he had a bigger part in the
Speaker 4: whiskey world the history gave him credit for at that time.
Speaker 4: Weaver took it upon herself to dig deeper and piece
Speaker 4: together the truth and uncover the legend of Nearest Green.
Speaker 4: Green had been working under a distiller, Reverend Call, on
Speaker 4: the dan Call farm as a master distiller, and apparently
Speaker 4: the story goes that Reverend Call had been creating these
Speaker 4: whiskeys and then kind of was called out for being
Speaker 4: a part of this industry when he was, you know,
Speaker 4: a servant of the Lord, and so he kind of
Speaker 4: gave over the main job, or a master distiller job,
Speaker 4: to Nearess Green. And there is also told that during
Speaker 4: that time Jack Daniels, who was a child, came to
Speaker 4: that area in that farm and watched and was taught
Speaker 4: the tricks of the trade by Nearest Green and helped
Speaker 4: him create what is now known as Jack Daniels Whiskey.
Speaker 2: According to Weaver's statements when reading the book, Jack Daniel's legacy,
Speaker 2: Green and his family are mentioned throughout the story, giving
Speaker 2: him credit and helping to create his own whiskey. From there,
Speaker 2: she not only bought the farm that the original distillery
Speaker 2: was on, but she, after discussing the best way to
Speaker 2: honor Nearest Green with his descendants, started the Uncle Nearest
Speaker 2: Premium Whiskey brand, making it the first spirit to commemorate
Speaker 2: an African American, specifically the first known African American master
Speaker 2: distiller on record.
Speaker 4: Right, and they have many a first including the first
Speaker 4: African American blender of Victoria, Edie Butler, who happens to
Speaker 4: be the great great granddaughter of Nearess Green and creator
Speaker 4: of the award winning eighteen eighty four small batch We
Speaker 4: Are Slipping On Now and has continued to win many
Speaker 4: awards with her other blends, apparently when asked about it,
Speaker 4: because this was not her job, it just came natural
Speaker 4: to her. She just put together the flavors that she
Speaker 4: light and created these amazing blends. And she is the
Speaker 4: master blender and maybe one of the first and possibly
Speaker 4: only African American woman to earn this role. And Butler
Speaker 4: isn't the only woman on staff at this distillery. Sherry Moore,
Speaker 4: who used to work at Jack Daniels, came out of
Speaker 4: retirement to be the director of Whiskey Productions. Kate Jerkins
Speaker 4: is a senior vice president of Global Sales and Marketing
Speaker 4: and US also of note the company has an all
Speaker 4: minority executive board, which is also a first, and then
Speaker 4: when asked about how her staffing, she stated, quote, I
Speaker 4: didn't set out to hire an all female executive team.
Speaker 4: I just set out to hire people who were the best.
Speaker 4: And I put together a team that was determined to
Speaker 4: buck every rule this industry has ever given us.
Speaker 1: And that's who I ended up with. And I love that.
Speaker 1: I love the conversations like it.
Speaker 4: I just got the bust and they just happen to
Speaker 4: be women, and we celebrate that absolutely.
Speaker 2: And Weaver is going beyond just one history making distillery,
Speaker 2: but pushing change and bringing diversity and change within the
Speaker 2: entire industry. She teamed up with the Jack Daniels Distillery
Speaker 2: to create a three pronged initiative to increase diversity within
Speaker 2: the whiskey industry. Through the Nearest and Jack Advancement Initiative,
Speaker 2: they will be creating the Nearest Screen School of Distilling
Speaker 2: at Motlow State Community College, which is a waiting approval
Speaker 2: from the Tennessee Board of Regents.
Speaker 4: Yeah, it'd be possibly up and running in twenty twenty one,
Speaker 4: so this year sometime and looking at that even broader
Speaker 4: scope to bring about a larger and faster impact. They
Speaker 4: will be quote developing a pipeline of women and people
Speaker 4: of color in the distilling business, creating programs that help
Speaker 4: African American startups and Spirit's business succeed so much more
Speaker 4: can follow, and helping put more African Americans than people
Speaker 4: of color into leadership roles. And I think it's so
Speaker 4: amazing as I was reading this, and there's so much
Speaker 4: to be said, because actually they're talking about it becoming
Speaker 4: a movie bigger than a book, Like there's a whole
Speaker 4: whole lot of conversation about what this story meant. And
Speaker 4: I know when I first heard about them, I was like, Okay,
Speaker 4: I had to find this whiskey first of all, because
Speaker 4: it's a big thing that the conversation was what happened?
Speaker 1: Why weren't they credited? Who took it? Did they steal it?
Speaker 4: But according to her when she was reading this book,
Speaker 4: it credits Nearest Green more so than his own family.
Speaker 4: Talks about how I kind of took him under his
Speaker 4: wing and taught him these ways and he learned the
Speaker 4: finer points of distillery and whiskey making. And I love
Speaker 4: that this woman who was not even in that field
Speaker 4: found something that made her passionate and pushed forward and
Speaker 4: created this brand that is a phenomenal brand and really
Speaker 4: freaking good whiskey. Like it's hard enough to create a
Speaker 4: whole new career path, but to do it in a
Speaker 4: way that you are flourishing and almost outstripping others, that's
Speaker 4: a goal. And she did it so quickly, like it
Speaker 4: went from I believe twenty seventeen to now and how
Speaker 4: it's created, and they're looking at beyond and already looking
Speaker 4: at how to impact the industry and make change, especially
Speaker 4: when it comes to the diversity within the industry.
Speaker 1: And it's beautiful. It is so beautiful.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I mean, it's a really great story.
Speaker 2: And I can totally see why they're honestly why they're
Speaker 2: talking like movies and things like that, and yeah, there
Speaker 2: are so many people and marginalized people and women who
Speaker 2: have been left out of these stories in the whiskey
Speaker 2: world and alcohol at large. And you know, we did
Speaker 2: a history of whiskey and Scotch over on Saber and
Speaker 2: we talked about some of them, but yeah, there's so
Speaker 2: many to uncover there, and it's yeah, this is amazing
Speaker 2: how quickly.
Speaker 3: I love that it was just sort of a history
Speaker 3: project and then it game. It's just right right.
Speaker 4: I love that they went back to the origins. And
Speaker 4: she even talked about the fact that during this time
Speaker 4: when she was researching, of course, it was during the
Speaker 4: Trump administration and coming to Lynch, pro Tennessee, which we
Speaker 4: know that's a lot a lot of history there and
Speaker 4: a lot of divide in that area. She came in
Speaker 4: wanting to know the story and even collaborating with descendants
Speaker 4: of Jack Daniels, and it was a really interesting thing
Speaker 4: as she was delving and interviewing and getting more of
Speaker 4: the records and being able to sit down with the
Speaker 4: descendants and being able to have this conversation about what
Speaker 4: did this look like, who was this person, and how
Speaker 4: can we keep talking about the story so it's not
Speaker 4: a race.
Speaker 1: And their website is really cool.
Speaker 4: They have some pictures of Nearest Green and there as
Speaker 4: a part of the distillery and then the old distillery and.
Speaker 1: What it looked like.
Speaker 4: I also loved the origin of the fact that it started,
Speaker 4: of course with a religious man making damn fine whiskey, you.
Speaker 1: Know what I mean. And it was known far and wide.
Speaker 4: When I say far and wide, I believe like South Carolina, Mississippi,
Speaker 4: you know, So I mean for that.
Speaker 1: Point in time, it's wonderful.
Speaker 4: And then of course there's also a deeper history in
Speaker 4: which how Nearest Green got there and to the fact
Speaker 4: that that necessarily not everyone were slave owners and had
Speaker 4: enslaved people on their property, but they are leased out
Speaker 4: to them, which is kind of gross in itself, but
Speaker 4: of course, just the bigger story of being able to
Speaker 4: be a part of it and being the master distiller
Speaker 4: and being respected as a crafter that that's a phenomenal story.
Speaker 4: Of course, hopefully we're not romanticizing it, but it is
Speaker 4: an accomplishment and a feat that we should be talking
Speaker 4: about as well as the fact that's celebrating.
Speaker 1: Man, this is a really good whiskey.
Speaker 3: It is it is.
Speaker 4: Oh yeah, speaking of which, we did kind of want
Speaker 4: to talk about some of the tasting notes and the
Speaker 4: all of that. The appearance of it is light amber
Speaker 4: and color, and it is very light, very golden. I
Speaker 4: would say, it's really beautiful. The smell and their aroma.
Speaker 4: They write ads ripe with toasted wood and honey, and
Speaker 4: I definitely can get that, like it almost feels like
Speaker 4: it's toasted bread with a little bit of honey on it,
Speaker 4: like I could, and butter because there's a buttery aspect
Speaker 4: to it. And then the flavored taste palate is a
Speaker 4: lighter bodied spirit with vanilla and brown butter notes and
Speaker 4: a light burn at the back palate. And I said
Speaker 4: that I think this is one of the things the
Speaker 4: first thing I said when I drank some of those,
Speaker 4: I was like, oh my god, it's burning, but in
Speaker 4: a good way, and I like it.
Speaker 3: That's a great review.
Speaker 1: It's so like refreshing.
Speaker 4: The burn is refreshing because it ends with that like sweet,
Speaker 4: almost toasted vanilla almond taste to me, I think, and
Speaker 4: I love that. And then it says the finish is
Speaker 4: crisp and lightly dry, which, yeah, it definitely adds a
Speaker 4: little bit of the dryness to it at the end,
Speaker 4: but then you kind of keep.
Speaker 1: Reaching for more. Drink responsibly.
Speaker 2: At the top, we should add a note.
Speaker 4: I'm hopefully well, who knows how far they get into it,
Speaker 4: but yes, drink responsibily. But yeah, and by the way,
Speaker 4: this brand is available in all fifty states, and you
Speaker 4: should be on the lookout for new releases.
Speaker 1: So, yeah, what do you taste? How do you about this?
Speaker 3: I agree with pretty much everything you said.
Speaker 2: I think I really taste the vanilla, and something about
Speaker 2: it reminds me of honeysuckle, which I've actually just been
Speaker 2: thinking about honeysuckle lately, so maybe that's why. But because
Speaker 2: I feel like, normally whiskey is sort of a cold
Speaker 2: night drink, but that makes me feel spring.
Speaker 1: Oh yeah, wellkee.
Speaker 2: They used to go on with my mom and we
Speaker 2: would get honeysuckle from divines. And that's one of my
Speaker 2: favorite things about drinks and food in general, is that
Speaker 2: we do have these like connective memories that come back
Speaker 2: to as when we try things.
Speaker 3: So that's what it's making me think of.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I could definitely see that. I love those memories.
Speaker 4: But yeah, So they have three different whiskeys on their website,
Speaker 4: which is the eighteen twenty single Barrel Edition, eighteen fifty
Speaker 4: six Premium Age whiskey, and what we have, the eighteen
Speaker 4: eighty four small Badge, And yeah, they've won many awards
Speaker 4: and gold medals for their whiskey, definitely earned and on
Speaker 4: the back of the bottle. If you actually get the bottle,
Speaker 4: you'll see the signature of the master blender, and for
Speaker 4: this one, it is Victoria Edie Butler, and it's pretty
Speaker 4: awesome to see her signature on that back and.
Speaker 1: Just her story alone.
Speaker 4: I love that weave were brought in his family and
Speaker 4: made sure they were a focal point in the story
Speaker 4: in this distillery.
Speaker 1: And I think that's.
Speaker 4: Also very on par with her following through with saying
Speaker 4: I want this to be about who he was and
Speaker 4: honoring him, and there's nothing better than to honor him
Speaker 4: but through his family. And it's even better that she
Speaker 4: is that good at her job. Yeah, Apparently the initial
Speaker 4: project was like they were going to have different family
Speaker 4: members create their own but Butler were so good at it,
Speaker 4: they were just like, all right, you're the master distillery,
Speaker 4: You're the blender.
Speaker 1: You're amazing, you know. Like So I love all of that, and.
Speaker 4: I love that the story as getting bigger, and yeah,
Speaker 4: that they are a part of an initiative to bring
Speaker 4: up others as it should be.
Speaker 3: Yes, very much needed. I'm glad that it is happening.
Speaker 5: To that.
Speaker 1: Cheers to that, Cheers to the brand as well.
Speaker 4: As weaver for all of the good things that they
Speaker 4: are doing, and I'm excited to see all the brands
Speaker 4: and all of the new products that come from it.
Speaker 2: Yes, and cheers to you listeners and to all the
Speaker 2: people doing amazing things to uplift others.
Speaker 3: We always love hearing those stories from you.
Speaker 2: So if there's a story you want to highlight in these,
Speaker 2: let us know. If there's a beverage you want us
Speaker 2: to highlight, if there's a cocktail, just whatever you're sipping on,
Speaker 2: even if you just want to share it, we would
Speaker 2: love to know.
Speaker 3: We hope that you've enjoyed taking a relaxing moment with us.
Speaker 5: Thank you for sitting with us, Yes, and we will
Speaker 5: What are you doing? Yeah, whatever you're doing, and well,
Speaker 5: we'll catch you in the next halfy hour. If you
Speaker 5: would like to email us, you can. Our email is
Speaker 5: Stuff Media, Momstuff at iHeartMedia dot com. You can also
Speaker 5: find us on Instagram at stuff I've Never Told You
Speaker 5: are on Twitter at mom Stuff Podcast. Thanks as always
Speaker 5: to our super producer Christina, and thanks to you for listening.
Speaker 3: Steffand Never Told you the production of iHeartRadio.
Speaker 2: For more podcasts on iHeartRadio, visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple podcasts,
Speaker 2: or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.