Oak | White pepper | Hint of ginger | Graham cracker

Rush of heat | Baking spices | Nougat | Baking chocolate | Caramel chews | Spicy undercurrent throughout

Toffee | Leather | Cigar box | Tapering cinnamon on the backend | Long

The Uncle Nearest brand name is steeped in history, which we discovered in an interview with distillery founder Fawn Weaver in 2018. Nearest Green, the slave who taught Jack Daniel how to distill, is a piece of history people can get behind.

As time has progressed, the distillery’s portfolio of whiskeys has grown and evolved. Like many distilleries getting up and running, there has been quite a range from sourced and contract distilled whiskey from Tennessee, Canadian whiskey, and in-house distilled whiskey. The single barrel “black label” whiskey as it’s informally referred to is conspicuously labeled “Whiskey” - not Tennessee whiskey, bourbon, rye, or even straight whiskey…just whiskey. There is little information available to decipher what it may be, which may simply be a function of leaving the door open for many different types of whiskey that might just simply be best offered in their single barrel form and put into the “black label” bottle. We know from the label this particular barrel was distilled and aged in Tennessee, but little beyond that.

As for flavor, it’s an interesting whiskey that feels unusual yet familiar at the same time. Oak, white pepper, and a unique ginger note on the nose give way to a rush of heat, baking spices, caramel chews, and nougat on the palate. A spicy undercurrent leads to toffee, leather, cigar box, and tapering cinnamon on the long finish. It’s an interesting sip for sure, and satisfies the brand’s claim of identifying whiskeys with character to be bottled as single barrels.
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The whiskey in review comes from barrel No. 008.