The old adage is it takes money to make money could not be truer than in the distilled spirits industry. In the spirits world, there are many ways to market. Some go the boot strap route where they scrape and claw to get a brand started while others go all in with multi-million-dollar business plans with funds raised from a collection of friends, family, private investors, and traditional banks.
When Fawn Weaver read about the story of Nathan “Nearest” Green in the New York Times, the man that taught Jack Daniel how to distill, she had no idea that it would one day lead her to Lynchburg, Tennessee, to start what is now one of the fastest growing spirits brands in the world.
That NYTimes story was published on June 25, 2016, and by the end of that year, Weaver and her husband Keith, founded Uncle Nearest Whiskey and eventually built the Nearest Green Distillery located in Shelbyville, Tennessee, home to one of the most popular distillery tour destinations in the U.S.
Farm Credit Mid-America Files Federal Lawsuit Claiming Nearest Green Defaulted on $108 Million in Loans
Farm Credit Mid-America, the plaintiff, has submitted a ‘Verified Complaint’ against defendants Uncle Nearest, Inc., Nearest Green Distillery, Inc., Uncle Nearest Real Estate Holdings, LLC, Fawn and Keith Weaver (in their official and individual capacities) for breach of certain loan agreements to Uncle Nearest and seeks the appointment of a receiver and other relief.
The suit claims that over the last year Uncle Nearest has failed to adequately respond to Farm Credit’s requests for information and a consensual resolution to a myriad of defaults that now total $108,245,828. The suit goes on to say that Uncle Nearest has failed to pay principal and interest multiple times and used proceeds to purchase a $2.3 million home on Martha’s Vinyard through a non-loan party and mortgage such property to another lender.
The suit says that they provided inaccurate information with regard to whiskey barrels on-hand which constitutes a majority of the Lender’s collateral, sold barrels to generate cash, and sold future receipts and revenue streams at a discount multiple times, unbeknownst to Farm Credit. They also failed to maintain a net income of at least $1.00 at the end of each calendar month and failed to maintain a net worth of at least $100 million during 2024, as required by the loan documents.
The parties have been unable to forge a mutually beneficial path forward. Consequently, the Lender is now seeking assistance from the court to protect its collateral and its rights under the loan documents. In response, Uncle Nearest has admitted that it is in default and has consented to the appointment of a receiver. Simultaneously, the Lender is filing an emergency motion requesting the appointment of a receiver in order to put a reputable turnaround firm at the helm of Uncle Nearest and determine whether there is a path forward to a profitable business.
Uncle Nearest has three loans with Farm Credit, a Revolving Loan, a Term Loan, and a RELOC Loan.
The Revolving Loan, including amendments, totals $67 million. The current principal balance of the outstanding Revolving Loan is $65,224,031.96. One of those amendments allowed Uncle Nearest to acquire a chateau in France to develop Uncle Nearest’s cognac business and form a French subsidiary. The lawsuit claims the Lender has not received any information from Uncle Nearest that any portion of the cognac business is operational.
The Term Loan provided an initial loan of $20 million. In March 2023 the Lender agreed to advance an additional $2.3 million to purchase a property in Martha’s Vinyard. Uncle Nearest presented the purchase of the Marthas Vineyard Property to the Lender as a marketing opportunity, which would enable Uncle Nearest to host branding events and rent the property to other distributors for co-branding opportunities. In January 2025, the Lender learned that an entity that is not a borrower or other Loan Party, UN HOUSE MV LLC (“UN House MV”), was used to purchase the MV Property using proceeds from the MV Property Loan, which is a violation of the Credit Agreement. Later, the Lender learned that UN House MV mortgaged the MV Property to a different lender, Oaktree Funding Corp. (“Oaktree Funding”), on or about September 25, 2024, to secure UN House Marthas Vineyard’s obligations to Oaktree Funding under a promissory note in the principal amount of $1,500,000, as reflected in the Dukes County Registry of Deeds.
The Term Loan was used again in June 2023 to provide an additional $1.7 million loan for the purchase of 108-acre property adjacent to the distillery.
The RELOC Loan dated January 2023 in the amount of $15 million was advanced to finance construction and build-out of the Nearest Green Distillery in Shelbyville, Tennessee.
Nearest Green Distillery Founder Fawn Weaver Responds via Instagram
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Uncle Nearest Outstanding Principal & Interest as of July 28, 2025
| Loan Type | Principal Amount | Accrued Interest | Principal and Accrued Interest Outstanding | Maturity Date |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| The Revolving Loan | $65,224,031.96 | $4,109,352.17 | $69,333,384.13 | July 22, 2025 |
| The Term Loan | $22,045,150.88 | $1,214,102.77 | $23,259,253.65 | July 22, 2027 |
| The RELOC Loan | $15,000,000.00 | $653,190.44 | $15,653,190.44 | July 22, 2027 |
| Totals | $102,269,182.84 | $5,976,645.38 | $108,245,828.22 |
The Loan Document Defaults
The suit says that Uncle Nearest has been in default under the loans since as early as January 2, 2024, and has continued to incur further defaults over the last eighteen months. One of the most recent defaults occurred as a result of Uncle Nearest’s failure to pay the Revolving Loans in full on the applicable Maturity Date of July 22, 2025. To date, numerous Forbearance Defaults have occurred and continue. Uncle Nearest is in default under the Forbearance Agreement and further in default under the Credit Agreement.
From January 2024 through March 2025, the Lender says it sent formal and informal notices of default, requests for updated information regarding its collateral and requests for meetings to discuss a consensual path forward, including a forbearance agreement. Unfortunately, until March 2025, these notices and requests failed to result in any resolution and were mainly met with extremely delayed responses.
After sending several letters of default in 2024, Uncle Nearest responded with two letters dated November 13 and November 22, 2024. The letters requested (i) an extension of each of the items in the November Notice of Default until December 31, 2024, and (ii) a proposal for a restructuring scenario, including a forbearance agreement, reduced interest rate, and interest-only payments.
In response, Farm Credit says it “appreciated the communication, negotiating and effectuating a feasible path forward, especially while the collateral discrepancy remained unresolved, would require Uncle Nearest to engage a chief restructuring officer.”
Uncle Nearest requested to engage The Keystone Group, as a chief growth officer with more limited authority than the Lender requested, including assisting the company with financial reviews, reporting, and developing operating plans. Given the Lender saw this development as some modicum of traction, the Lender acquiesced to the significantly pared back engagement.
Farm Credit claims that despite Keystone’s engagement, Uncle Nearest continued its pattern of delay and obfuscation. In meetings and communications between the Lender, Keystone, and Uncle Nearest in January through March of 2025. The information provided about Uncle Nearest’s financial health and the status of the Lender’s Collateral was inconsistent and unverifiable. The suit goes on to say that Keystone never received fulsome access to all financial information necessary to model a routine 13-week cash flow forecast to share with the Lender despite multiple requests. Eventually, on January 31, 2025, Uncle Nearest (through Keystone) provided a 13-week cash flow forecast to the Lender (the accuracy of which was later disputed by Uncle Nearest), which demonstrated that Uncle Nearest had a negative cash balance. In March 2025, Uncle Nearest informed the Lender that Keystone was no longer engaged.
Despite these issues, the parties agreed to move forward with a forbearance period to provide Uncle Nearest runway to consummate a transaction to repay the Lender. On April 15, 2025, the Forbearance Agreement was executed and Uncle Nearest made a required paydown of its obligations in the amount of $7,500,000 to the Lender. Under the terms of the Forbearance Agreement, the parties acknowledged and agreed the Pre-Forbearance Defaults had occurred and were continuing but, subject to the terms and conditions therein, the Lender would forbear from exercising certain rights and remedies under the Credit Agreement and other loan documents until the expiration of the Forbearance Period, pending no additional defaults. In connection with the Forbearance Agreement, Uncle Nearest waived its right to object to Riveron’s appointment as a receiver over Uncle Nearest on the supposed basis of Riveron’s independence or disinterestedness.
Almost immediately after the execution of the Forbearance Agreement, Uncle Nearest requested an extension to May 2, 2025, of the April 25, 2025 deadline to appoint an Independent Director acceptable to the Lender with the expertise to assist Uncle Nearest in its time of distress. The Lender agreed to the extension; however, to date, no Independent Director has been officially appointed.
Under the Forbearance Agreement, Uncle Nearest agreed to provide cash flow budgets (consisting of an initial four-week period and thirteen-week updates thereafter) and weekly cash flow reporting against those budgets, and further agreed to maintain a minimum cash position of $1,500,000 at all times. Based on the cash flow forecast provided by the interim chief financial officer on May 12, 2025, the forecast purported to show an initial cash balance of $1,500,000 as of May 12, 2025, when, in fact, the Company’s beginning cash balance at that time was approximately $261,000. Moreover, the same forecast, projected approximately $557,000 of cash burn in the first week, implying that Uncle Nearest would be facing an approximate $296,000 negative cash balance by the end of the first week. This would require an immediate infusion of $1,796,000 to meet the minimum liquidity requirement. Even with such an infusion, Uncle Nearest’s own forecast demonstrated that it would require weekly cash infusions of at least $500,000 to maintain a positive cash balance and the agreed-upon minimum liquidity of $1,500,000.
The suit goes on to say that the Lender lacks visibility into Uncle Nearest’s cash management system and even questions if there is such a system. Given the lack of reliable financial information and uncertainty with respect to any verifiable source of capital to keep Uncle Nearest maintaining business operations, a receiver is necessary to take over managerial control of Uncle Nearest.
Claim for Breach of Contract
Farm Credit says it fully performed its obligations under the Credit Agreement by funding the Revolving Loan, Term Loan, and RELOC Loan to Uncle Nearest in accordance with the terms of the Credit Agreement. And that Uncle Nearest’s defaults constitute a breach of obligations under the Loan documents. The Lender says requests the appointment of receiver over Uncle Nearest, Inc., the Distillery, RE Holdings, the Nearest Green Distillery Property, the Eady Road Property. Farm Credit says it is entitled to the appointment of a receiver as a matter of general equity to protect and preserve the collateral. It goes on to say the Court should appoint a receiver because due to Uncle Nearest’s mismanagement, the Collateral is in jeopardy of substantial harm.
Uncle Nearest, Inc., Nearest Green Distillery, Inc., Uncle Nearest Real Estate Holdings, LLC, Fawn and Keith Weaver are required to respond to this breach of contract with the courts on August 7, 2025.
Learn more about Uncle Nearest Distillery.
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