Nearis Green
| Nathan "Nearest" Green | |
|---|---|
| Born | c. 1820 |
| Residence | Lynchburg, Tennessee |
| Occupation | Distiller |
| Known for | Teaching Jack Daniel, founder of Jack Daniel's Tennessee Whiskey |
Nathan "Nearest" Green (c.1820), incorrectly spelled "Nearis" in an 1880 census, was a formerly enslaved African-American head stiller, commonly referred to now as a master distiller. He is known as being the master distiller who taught distilling techniques to Jack Daniel, founder of the Jack Daniel Tennessee whiskey distillery, the first master distiller for Jack Daniel Distillery and the first African-American master distiller on record in the United States.
Sometime in the 1850s, when Jack Daniel was a boy, he went to work for a preacher, grocer and distiller named Dan Call. According to company lore, the preacher was a busy man, and when he saw promise in young Jack, he taught him how to run his whiskey still. However, on June 25, 2016, The New York Times published a story identifying the true teacher as Green, one of Call's slaves. The newspaper said that the Green story has been known to historians and locals for decades, even as the distillery officially ignored it. However, Green’s story — built on oral history and the thinnest of archival trails — may never be definitively proved. A USA Today published story on July 19, 2017, corrected the incorrect spelling of his name (Nearis) and confirmed what Jack Daniel has also confirmed, his correct name was Nathan "Nearest" Green.
Green was one of a few slaves owned by Call who stayed on even after earning their freedom. When introducing Green to an 8-year old Jack Daniel, Call is quoted as saying, "Uncle Nearest is the best whiskey maker that I know of." Call is then quoted as saying to Green, "I want [Jack] to become the world's best whiskey distiller - if he wants to be. You help me teach him." Green served as master distiller on the property. Known as Nearest Green, "Uncle Nearest,"(at times misspelled as "Nearis") Green also played the fiddle and was a lively entertainer, a trait Green descendants say was passed down to his son, Jesse Green. According to one biographer, “Only a few years older than Jack, [Green] taught him all about the still.”
Slavery ended with ratification of the Thirteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution in 1865, and Daniel opened his distillery a year later, immediately employing two of Green’s sons, George and Eli Green. In all, at least three of Green's sons were a part of the Jack Daniel Distillery staff: George Green, Edde Green, and Eli Green. At least four of Nearest's grandchildren joined the Jack Daniel team, Ott, Charlie, Otis and Jesse Green. In all, seven straight generations of Nearest Green descendants have worked for Jack Daniel Distillery, with three direct descendants continuing to work there to this today.
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