Troubled whiskey brand is insolvent. KY lender may foreclose on distillery

Farm Credit Mid-America of Louisville sued Nearest Green and Uncle Nearest Distillery in Tennessee, as well as founders Fawn and Keith Weaver, alleging default on $100 million in loans and seeking the appointment of a receiver to run the company. But the Weavers are opposing the move, saying they are victims of fraud. Uncle Nearest

Troubled whiskey brand Uncle Nearest is insolvent, and it will likely face foreclosure if the court hands control back to founder Fawn Weaver, according to the company’s court-appointed receiver. The details were laid out in newly unsealed documents filed late Monday in federal court in Tennessee. Receiver Phillip Young said that if his receivership is ended by U.S. District Judge Charles E. Atchley on Feb. 9, when a hearing is scheduled on the matter, and Fawn and Keith Weaver regain control, “I believe that the company’s monthly losses would be approximately $2 million per month.” TOP VIDEOS The video player is currently playing an ad. You can skip the ad in 5 sec with a mouse or keyboard The receiver said that since he gained control in September, he’s ratcheted losses down from about $1 million a month before the receivership to about $100,000 a month now, with Kentucky lender Farm Credit covering the ongoing loss. Farm Credit also agreed to foot the bill for $1.09 million to retire a warehouse lien on Uncle Nearest’s barrels of whiskey, Young said.

The Nearest Green Distillery in Tennessee will be placed in the hands of a receiver after a federal judge ruled in favor of Farm Credit’s petition to remove Fawn and Keith Weaver from operating it for now. Uncle Nearest He said when he took over in September, Uncle Nearest was unable to cover its $450,000 payroll except with a loan from the payroll processing company, repaid by advances from Farm Credit. But if the receivership, which was requested by Farm Credit after Uncle Nearest defaulted on more than $100 million in loans last fall, is ended, “I believe that Farm Credit would immediately cease covering these operational losses and move to foreclose on and repossess its collateral,” according to an affidavit by Young. The Weavers have yet to file a response; they must refile documents previously submitted in support of their motion to oust the receiver on or before Feb. 5. But overnight, Fawn Weaver said, in an email sent to investors and employees that was obtained by the Herald-Leader, that she plans to answer all the assertions made by the receiver. “I want to be absolutely clear. Neither Keith nor I have ever personally gained anything monetarily from Uncle Nearest,” Fawn Weaver said.

The Tennessee-based whiskey and bourbon brand, which Weaver has previously said is worth more than a billion dollars, has seen sales plummet, and Weaver has blamed the receiver in her motion to regain control. What happens if Fawn Weaver regains Uncle Nearest But the receiver said financial analysts believe that even if sales increased as Weaver has projected, the company will still lose almost $10 million between January and the end of May. Farm Credit Mid-America of Louisville sued Nearest Green and Uncle Nearest Distillery in Tennessee, as well as founders Fawn and Keith Weaver, alleging default on more than $100 million in loans and seeking the appointment of a receiver to run the company. But the Weavers are opposing the move, saying they are victims of fraud. Uncle Nearest If Farm Credit pulls its support, according to receiver, Uncle Nearest will immediately be on the hook for about $164 million in debt, including nearly $22 million in debts to vendors and $4.1 million to WhistlePig, among others. Uncle Nearest also apparently owes more than $10 million to Advanced Sprits, which purchased barrels of whiskey from Uncle Nearest that the company is required to repurchase at higher prices. “Furthermore, based upon correspondence I have had during this receivership, I anticipate that the company would immediately be the defendant in dozens of suits by creditors and shareholders across the country,” the receiver said. Receiver wants to expand scope Instead, Young has now formally asked for the judge to expand the receivership to include seven related business entities, citing millions in transfers and payments between them and Uncle Nearest. Young said based on the incomplete bank and financial records he has seen, the businesses were essentially operating as one company. Putting them all under the receivership would allow him to reconcile some puzzling financial anomalies including a complex transaction that he referred to as “the Grant Sidney deal” in which $20 million in loans moved between Uncle Nearest to Weaver’s Grant Sidney company and then back again.

In her email, Fawn Weaver denied there was anything concerning about the $20 million transfer and denied that the receiver had ever asked for records of the transaction. “The $20 million dollars referenced in the receiver’s filing came from me selling my personal shares, with 100% of the proceeds invested directly into Uncle Nearest,” Weaver said. “Not a single penny was kept by me. That infusion is why the company had substantial cash on hand at the end of Q1 2025.” She did not address why the company need the cash infusion, except to say that following the departure of CFO Mike Senzaki, whom the Weavers have sued, they learned the company owned $2 million to its payroll company and repaid it. Weaver also said that to cover their ongoing legal expenses, she and husband Keith Weaver are selling all but one of their non-Uncle Nearest real estate assets, including their personal residence. It isn’t clear what these assets include; the Weavers have fought to keep out of the receivership some assets that the receiver now says should be included and might be sold to pay off Uncle Nearest’s debts. Why Uncle Nearest hasn’t sold As for a potential sale, Young said as his behest Arlington Capital had communicated with 100 parties about refinancing the debt with no qualified source willing to refinance even Farm Credit’s secured debt. About 40 parties were interested in an asset purchase and examined Uncle Nearest financials. From those 40 parties, they received 12 formal, written letters of interest with a proposed price. “Except for NexGen 2780 … no party offered a valuation in excess of the amount of the secured debt,” Young said. “While Arlington continues to work with several bidders to commit to a written, binding offer that is deemed acceptable, no offer currently exists that would indicate the company is balance sheet solvent.” As for NexGen’s unusual offer, Young said, “in which they propose to pay $108 million … it is unclear to me whether that proposal is for a purchase of the assets, a purchase of the company or a refinancing of the debt. It is not a formal offer and remains subject to due diligence.”

Young and Arlington have not be able to confirm the source of reliability of their finances, he said. Young said emails in the Uncle Nearest system indicated that Chuck Speed, who was associated with NexGen, has a prior relationship with Weaver. The receiver said he initially was optimistic about a sale, in part because Uncle Nearest had reported $75 million in revenues for 2024, “and there seemed to be excitement about the Uncle Nearest brand.” But his accounting team determined the actual revenues were only $41 million and 2025 revenues are expected to be less than $25 million, he said. Also, “I began receiving feedback from creditors, shareholders, and new potential investors that the constant media coverage of Uncle Nearest, and the Weaver Parties’ participation in that media coverage, was damaging the market’s view of the brand’s viability,” the receiver said. Nearest Green founder and CEO of Uncle Nearest Fawn Weaver posted an online rebuttal to the allegations in a lawsuit filed by a Kentucky lender seeking to have a receiver appointed for the distillery.

As the worldwide bourbon and whiskey market “went into freefall in the third and fourth quarters of 2025, with multiple bourbon brands filing for bankruptcy protection, others liquidating, others listing their bourbon businesses for sale, and others (including Jim Beam) announcing a cessation of distilling operations … this created a glut in the market such that the company’s assets were no longer attractive,” Young said. Although now is not a good time to sell, Young said in a footnote, “in my opinion, a sale in the next six months is the only viable option to maximize the value of the company and its assets.” Young also said he believes some of the assets are worth far less than the Weavers have said. A property in Martha’s Vineyard, bought by Uncle Nearest, is worth less than $2.6 million, not the $4 million that the Weavers claim, he said. He recently listed it for $2,595,000, he said. And the approximately 56,000 barrels of whiskey that Uncle Nearest owns are not worth the $78 million — about $1,400 a barrel — that the Weavers have valued them, he said. Young said he attempted to sell 10,000 barrels at $1,000 each and received no offers. “The only offers the receiver has received for the company’s barrel stock was an offer of approximately $400 per barrel, for less than 1,000 barrels,” he said. Young also cited the finding of the Texas bankruptcy judge overseeing the Stoli/Kentucky Owl case, who “recently found that barrels of bourbon less than four years old currently have virtually no value because there is no market for young bourbon. … The vast majority of (Uncle Nearest’s) barrels contain whiskey that was distilled less than four years ago.” Young said his preference would be to reorganize the company and refinance it, but they have not found a lender who will take on the company’s debts. He said that although Fawn Weaver has indicated she has a potential refinancing source, she has not provided any details. “To be clear, I certainly have no objection to allowing an acquaintance of Ms. Weaver’s to provide refinancing and leaving the company intact,” Young said. “Indeed, that’s my preference.”

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