Nearest Green Distillery announced the release of its new packaging, as well its 2022 slate of whiskey expressions using four different recipes. Going forward, Uncle Nearest releases will be distilled at the Nearest Green facility rather than sourced and blended.

In addition to its current portfolio of core and distillery exclusive whiskeys, this year the Tennessee distillery will release Uncle Nearest Rye, Uncle Nearest Single Barrel Rye and a new more widely available Uncle Nearest Single Barrel Whiskey.

“Our own whiskey began fully maturing last year, and what we have in our bottles now is what we believe is the best whiskey we’ve ever released,” Fawn Weaver, founder and CEO of Nearest Green Distillery, said in a news release.

The most notable change to the new packaging is the replacement of the sketch of the property where Nearest Green originally distilled by the insignia of Nearest Green Distillery, which boasts a dram of whiskey encased by a horseshoe, signifying its Tennessee roots. Victoria Eady Butler, fifth-generation Nearest Green descendant and distiller, also added a note and her signature to the front of every newly released bottle.

Last week, the company revealed via social media their plans to change the packaging, encouraging buyers to “clear the shelves” of the “prelude” Uncle Nearest bottles and make way for the new editions.

The seven bottles in their 2022 whiskey slate will first be released at the 323-acre Nearest Green Distillery in Shelbyville, Tenn., with 1884 Small Batch Whiskey debuting already and cases beginning to ship into markets across the country today. In December 2021, the company released the first new bottles of its Master Blend Edition whiskey exclusively at the distillery, which has already been met with rave reviews from both critics and consumers.

“The packaging we used since our inception is no more as of 2022,” said Katharine Jerkens, Chief Business Officer. “If you walk into any retail store from coast to coast, you will notice something familiar – empty Uncle Nearest shelves. We waited for our whiskey family to completely sell us out, and now we are restocking with the bottles that will permanently cement the legacy of Nearest Green, the world’s first known African American master distiller.”