On 14 August 2025, federal judge Charles E Atchley Jr ordered that Tennessee-based whiskey company Uncle Nearest be placed under receivership. The ruling comes as a result of court proceedings which began on 7 August 2025, following a lawsuit by Farm Credit Mid-America.

In its lawsuit filed on 28 July 2025, Farm Credit alleged that Uncle Nearest had defaulted on loans totalling more than US$100 million, including interest. Among Farm Credit’s other claims were that Uncle Nearest had inflated its inventory reports, had broken the terms of the loan, and had sold off barrels held as collateral against the loan in order to pay other debts, not to Farm Credit.

Uncle Nearest filed a response to Farm Credit’s suit on 3 August 2025, in which it called the lender’s allegations “salacious and inaccurate”. It added that although its agreement with Farm Credit “technically allow for a receiver to be appointed” this measure should not be taken because, among other reasons, “collateral is not in imminent danger of being lost, concealed, injured, diminished in value, or squandered absent a receiver.”

Uncle Nearest was founded in 2016, and draws on the legacy of Nearest Green, the first master distiller for Jack Daniel Distillery and the first known African-American master distiller in US history. It is led by CEO Fawn Weaver, who co-founded the company with her husband Keith Weaver.

Appearing in court on 7 August, Keith Weaver did not dispute that Uncle Nearest had defaulted on its loans. As reported in The Lynchburg Times, he testified that Uncle Nearest was “the fastest growing whiskey company in America”, and suggested that the payment issues were due to cash flow, not solvency. He also said that barrel inventory was overestimated by former chief financial officer Mike Senzaki, who has been removed from the company and is under separate investigation.

The judge was asked by Farm Credit to place Uncle Nearest under receivership in order to protect assets that are currently collateral against the loan from being sold off.

Judge Atchely has now granted the receivership, although a specific receiver has not yet been selected. Court documents, quoted by The Spirits Business, read: “[The defendants] argue that appointing a receiver would be inappropriate given the brand damage it would entail, the availability of less drastic remedies, and the fact that many of the issues underlying the parties’ dispute were caused by the unauthorised actions of Uncle Nearest’s former CFO, Mike Senzaki.

“The court appreciates defendants’ position, but it finds that appointing a receiver is necessary under the circumstances.”

As of 11 August, Judge Atchely had already frozen movement of any assets that may affect the collateral, and imposed a gag order to stop both parties commenting on the case. In a video posted to her Instagram page on 17 August, Fawn Weaver alluded to the case. “Y’all know I’m under a gag order,” she said, “…but here’s what I know I can say.”

Fawn Weaver went on to call on her followers to “clear the shelves”, saying “Every bottle you move tells our distributors and partners the same thing: we’ve built one of the strongest and most resilient brands in American history.”

Continuing, she said: “Our team remains unshaken and unmoved… strong leadership doesn’t panic. It keeps a steady hand and moves forward.”

Since Uncle Nearest’s launch in 2017, it has won multiple awards for its whiskeys, and its master blender Victoria Eady Butler was twice named Master Blender of the Year in the Icons of Whisky.

“In a year when spirits are down, we’re moving in the opposite direction, and we have been for the past year,” claimed Fawn Weaver in her Instagram video.

The wider context for American whiskeys, and the global spirits industry, has been troubled. In April, Oregon’s Westward Whiskey filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection — a measure that Uncle Nearest had also reportedly considered — while it undergoes restructuring. Stoli Brand Vodka’s US arm, which owns Kentucky Owl, also filed for Chapter 11 in late 2024. Brown-Forman, which owns Jack Daniel’s, announced in January that it would axe 12 per cent of its workforce, shuttering its Louisville cooperage and implementing a shared production model at Scotch distillery Glenglassaugh.