Assertion Not checkable as stated
Suppliers ignored Weaver's female team but answered her husband immediately
“Keith called every single person on our collective list, and he got through either immediately when calling, or they called him back by the end of the day. He didn't have to wait 24 hours to get in touch with any of those people that we had been trying to reac…”
Assertion Not checkable as stated
Before Uncle Nearest, 100% of American whiskey brands represented white males
“White males represent 30% of this country and a hundred percent Of the whiskeys up until uncle nearest, 100%.”
Assertion Not checkable as stated
Suppliers immediately called Weaver's husband after ignoring her all-female team
“Keith called every single person on our collective list, and he got through either immediately when calling, or they called him back by the end of the day. He didn't have to wait 24 hours to get in touch with any of those people that we had been trying to reac…”
Disclosure
Weaver secured Uncle Nearest trademarks before informing Jack Daniel's
“I had already, I already had the trademarks. So by the time I shared with them what I would be doing, I made sure I had the trademarks.”
Disclosure
Uncle Nearest spent $1M on ads while completely sold out nationwide
“I spent a million dollars in commercial ads when we were out of stock everywhere in the country.”
Assertion Not checkable as stated
Major liquor conglomerates squeezed craft distillers' shelf space in 2020
“No independent saw big years last year because the big guys, once the pandemic happened, they've got to keep those shares up. Right. And so they took over the shelf space. There was very little shelf space that remained for craft distillers.”
Assertion Open · timeframe Oct 2021
'Jack Daniel's Legacy' mentions Nearest Green's family more than Jack's own
“Jack Daniels Legacy. It was a biography by a local journalist out of Tuscaloosa, Alabama, who goes to Lynchburg, Tennessee, to write the authoritative biography on the most famous whiskey maker in the world. And very early on into the book, It introduces this …”
Opinion
Weaver: Jack Daniel did not steal Nearest Green's whiskey recipe
“So all around the internet at that time was that they very quickly determined that Jack was the slave owner, that he stole the recipe, hid nearest, and all these other things. Well, I'm reading this biography and going, not a chance, because I believed that it…”
Assertion Not checkable as stated
White men founded 100% of commercial whiskey brands before Uncle Nearest
“White males represent 30% of this country and a hundred percent of the whiskeys up until Uncle Nearest.
100%.”
Disclosure
Weaver spent $1 million on commercial ads while completely out of stock
“Last September. We were out of stock in the entire country, meaning we were selling much faster than we could bottle. I spent a million dollars in commercial ads when we were out of stock everywhere in the country.”
Insight
Weaver: Founder confidence should not rely on early product success
“If the confidence is coming from a product, that's a flawed strategy, because you might have a product that fails, and you might start another product, that product may fail, it may not be until you're on your fourth product, but you have to believe in yoursel…”
Assertion Not publicly verifiable
Weaver: Nearest Green Distillery is the seventh most visited distillery globally
“I've talked about how our distillery, now the seventh most visited distillery in the world.”
Insight
Weaver: Founders should divide brand narratives into modular, audience-specific stories
“You can write out your entire story, literally every element in it, and then break it into sections. So for instance, when you hear me talking about the story of nearest green and the press all the time, I'm usually talking about a particular section of the st…”
Assertion Not publicly verifiable
Weaver: Uncle Nearest was the world's most awarded bourbon from 2019-2023
“What you will see is we're the most awarded bourbon in the world for 2019, 20 20, 2021, 2022, and 2023. Every year we update those ads, and all we do is add a new year on it every time we're the most awarded.”
Assertion Not checkable as stated
Jack Daniel and Nearest Green's descendants grew up as friends
“They all grew up together. They were friends. They ate around the same dinner table.”
Insight
Sourcing whiskey to scale an American brand is structurally harder than Scotch
“In Scotland, the distilleries produce enough for themselves, but they also produce enough for a ton of others to be able to purchase from them. It's a part of their overall business model. That's not our business model in America. There's basically not enough …”
Assertion Not checkable as stated
Five major conglomerates own essentially all American whiskey brands
“You can kind of go down the list of every major American whiskey brand, and I can tell you who owns them. So like all the- ... The Diageos, the Sazeracs, LVMH, absolutely. They, you have essentially five that own everything.”
Assertion Partly supported
Uncle Nearest avoids using Jack Daniel's name on branding or website
“The only time that Jack's name has ever been associated with our brand is if the story is being told historically in the press, or it was told historically in the short film that we did with Jeffrey Wright”
Assertion Not checkable as stated
Uncle Nearest achieved 11 consecutive quarters of triple-digit growth
“We just celebrated our 11th quarter in a row of triple digit gains. So we've been a hundred percent year over year for 11 quarters.”
Assertion Partly supported
Five major multinational conglomerates own nearly all major American whiskey brands
“The Diageos, the Sazeracs, LVMH. Absolutely. They, you have essentially five that own Everything.”
Assertion Not checkable as stated
Weaver secured Uncle Nearest trademarks before notifying Jack Daniel's leadership
“Yeah, but it wasn't their IP. I had already, I already had the trademarks. So by the time I shared with them what I would be doing, I made sure I had the trademarks.”
Assertion Supported
Tennessee whiskey is straight bourbon filtered through sugar maple charcoal
“Bourbon can be made anywhere in America. It's not like champagne, where it has to be made in a region, or tequila that has to be made in Jalisco. It can be made anywhere in America, although I think ninety-something percent of it comes out of Kentucky. However…”
Assertion Partly supported
Uncle Nearest won best-in-class in 13 major spirits competitions in 2021
“There's been, I think, 16 major competitions this year, and we've received 13 best in class.
We have swept all of the major competitions this year with the exception of a few. And even in those we got gold and double gold.”
Assertion Not checkable as stated
Major liquor conglomerates squeezed craft distillers off retail shelves during 2020
“No independent saw big years last year because the big guys, once the pandemic happened, they've got to keep those shares up. Right. And so they took over the shelf space. There was very little shelf space that remained for craft distillers.”
