In 2016, The New York Times ran a front page story about the 150th Anniversary of Jack Daniel’s. It was a way to honor the influence that founded an institution. In the official biography of one of the most famous distillers in American history, the Green family is referenced more than anyone else in the book. Nearest Green and his children are mentioned fifty times in the book. The story was recalled over a century after it began through the official biography, Jack Daniel’s Legacy, published in 1967. The story of the friendship between Reverend Call, Uncle Nearest, and Jack Daniels was almost lost in the darkness of American history. As time went on Uncle Nearest and his family were one of the most respected and wealthiest families in Lincoln County. Nearest Green would be the first Master Distiller of Jack Daniels. He hired Uncle Nearest to be his head distiller. One of the first decisions Jack would make was to hire the man who had mentored him in making whiskey. Daniel Call chose the church and sold his shares in the Lynchburg distillery to Jack Daniel.ĭaniel would change the name of the distillery to Jack Daniel Distillery. Reverend Call was called to make a decision between spirits or spirituality: choose one, his congregation or the distillery. But, it was not long until the temperance movement would sweep through the States. Call and Daniels would partner together to form a distillery named Daniel & Call Distillery. Through the 1860's, as the Civil War tore through the heart of America, the Reverend Call and Uncle Nearest taught Jack Daniels everything they knew of the art of distilling whiskey. The story goes that when Reverend Call introduced Uncle Nearest to the young Daniel, the preacher said, "Uncle Nearest is the best whiskey maker that I know of." Nathan Green taught the young boy how to distill and filter they whiskey through sugar maple charcoal. It was not long until Daniel took interest in the whiskey crafted by the Reverend Call and Nearest Green. Daniel would come to live and work on the preachers property. Jasper Daniel was youngest of ten children and tragically his mother had died in childbirth. Sometime in the 1850s, a young boy named Jasper Daniel went to work for the preacher at the general store. It was together that Call and Greene distilled what was regarded as the best whiskey in the county. He had been hired out to work for Reverend Call for a fee. Green was an enslaved man owned by a firm known as Landis & Green. Nathan Green, known as Nearest Green or Uncle Nearest to those who knew him was a black man who worked for Reverend Call. And, as any good minister would do in Tennessee, he distilled whiskey. Reverend Call had other projects than preaching to support his family. He was a Lutheran minister who lived in Lynchburg, Tennessee. The preacher’s name was Reverend Daniel Call. It’s a story about America’s most known whiskey, its first distiller who was almost forgotten by history, and a preacher. The story of Uncle Nearest will stir you.
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