Jack Daniels & Uncle Nearest 

Jack Daniel was a Tennessee whiskey distiller and the founder of the Jack Daniel’s brand, as I explained in my previous answer. He is widely credited with revolutionizing the whiskey-making process and creating one of the most popular and recognizable whiskey brands in the world.

Uncle Nearest, whose full name was Nathan “Nearest” Green, was an African American master distiller who is said to have taught Jack Daniel how to distill whiskey. Green was born into slavery in Maryland in 1820 and later moved to Tennessee, where he worked on a farm owned by a man named Dan Call. Call was a local whiskey producer and is believed to have taught Green the art of distilling.

According to some accounts, Green eventually became the master distiller for Call’s whiskey operation, and when Jack Daniel began working for Call as a teenager, he learned the trade from Green. While the exact nature of the relationship between Daniel and Green is still a matter of debate, it is clear that Green played a significant role in the early history of American whiskey and has been recognized as a trailblazing figure in the industry. In recent years, there has been a renewed interest in Green’s story and his contributions to the whiskey world, and several brands have been launched in his honor.  The Uncle Nearest brand recently released some whiskey and bourbon. 

Jacob Beam

Jacob Beam was an American whiskey distiller and the founder of the Jim Beam bourbon brand. He was born in 1770 in Maryland and moved to Kentucky in the late 1700s. Beam began distilling whiskey in the late 1790s and soon became known for his high-quality spirits.

In 1795, Beam established a distillery in what is now Clermont, Kentucky, and began producing bourbon under the name Old Jake Beam. Over the years, Beam’s bourbon became increasingly popular, and the distillery expanded to meet growing demand. In 1933, following the repeal of Prohibition, the company officially changed its name to Jim Beam.

Jacob Spears

Jacob Spears was a farmer, distiller, and even a horse breeder who dealt in bluegrass seed. As a distiller, he and his two sons, Abraham and Noah, would load barrels of whiskey onto flatboats at Cooper’s Run, which led to the Licking River, and then to the Ohio and Mississippi Rivers. 

The exact date when Jacob Spears first distilled bourbon is not known, but it is believed that he began producing whiskey in Kentucky sometime in the late 1700s or early 1800s. At the time, bourbon was not yet an officially recognized type of whiskey, but many distillers in Kentucky and other parts of the United States were producing similar spirits using similar methods. Spears is considered one of the early pioneers of American whiskey-making, and his legacy as a distiller has had a lasting impact on the industry.

 

The history of bourbon is a bit murky, and there is no clear answer to who the first bourbon distiller was. However, it is widely believed that bourbon was first produced in Kentucky in the late 18th century by Scottish and Irish settlers who brought with them the knowledge of distilling whiskey. Some of the early distillers who are credited with popularizing bourbon include Elijah Craig, who is said to have been the first to age bourbon in charred oak barrels, and Jacob Beam, whose family went on to create the famous Jim Beam bourbon brand. While the identity of the first bourbon distiller may never be known for certain, there are many who paved the way.

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Cheers!

Brian