By Jonathan Randles | Updated on Oct 12, 2026 at 08:35 PM
Uncle Nearest Inc., the embattled Tennessee whiskey maker founded by entrepreneur Fawn Weaver, is nearing a sale after a year in receivership while responding to a government probe into the business.
Although a buyer hasn’t signed a purchase agreement, receiver Phillip G. Young Jr. said in a Friday court filing that discussions are ongoing and that he believes he’s close to executing a deal for substantially all of Uncle Nearest’s assets.
Uncle Nearest’s assets include the Nearest Green distillery located on 432 acres in Shelbyville, Tennessee, and equipment related to the company’s whiskey operations. Any sale would be executed through a Chapter 11 filing, Young said. Three potential buyers are involved in the sale discussions, though none were named in Friday’s court filing.
Young said he’s also working with French agriculture regulators on a sale of company-owned vineyards in Cognac and is also intending to auction a related chateau.
Possible sales come more than a year after Uncle Nearest’s main lender sued over debt defaults on more than $100 million in loans and got an outside lawyer to take charge of the business as part of the lawsuit. A federal judge appointed Young in August 2025 to oversee Uncle Nearest, which Fawn Weaver and her husband Keith Weaver have contested. The company is currently insolvent, Young said Friday.
Lawyers for the Weavers didn’t return a request Monday seeking comment.
While pursuing disposal of assets for the troubled business, Young said he’s continuing to respond to subpoenas from the Securities and Exchange Commission and US Attorney for the Southern District of New York. Friday’s court filing didn’t disclose the nature of the government investigation.
Young said he is conducting his own forensic investigation into the company’s finances and past transactions. Selling Uncle Nearest’s assets through Chapter 11 would allow a buyer to acquire the business without taking-on existing legal liabilities.
The Weavers founded the brand to honor Nathan “Nearest” Green, the formerly enslaved man who taught Jack Daniel to distill whiskey and whose legacy was nearly lost to history. The brand grew quickly and courted high-profile investors including a $20 million investment from Jay-Z. Fawn Weaver appeared earlier this year as a judge on ABC’s Shark Tank .
But the brand has struggled in receivership during a broader downturn in the US whiskey industry that has seen dozens of distillers file bankruptcy or shut down. A bankruptcy judge in March blocked Fawn Weaver ‘s attempt to put Uncle Nearest into Chapter 11, a move that could have undercut Young’s authority in charge of the business.
Uncle Nearest has also faced internal problems. The Weavers filed a civil lawsuit last year against Uncle Nearest’s former chief financial officer, accusing him of falsifying documents and submitting false financial reports to lender Farm Credit Mid-America.