Shelbyville distillery Uncle Nearest Premium Whiskey is denying reported claims that it has defaulted on a $100 million loan. 

But Louisville-based Farm Credit Mid-America PCA has made the claim in a federal court complaint against Uncle Nearest Inc., Nearest Green Distillery Inc., Uncle Nearest Real Estate Holdings LLC, and owners Fawn and Keith Weaver.  A hearing is scheduled for Aug. 7 in the U.S District Court.

The bank’s complaint claims that Uncle Nearest has defaulted on over $100 million in loans and seeks the appointment of a receiver. Again, Uncle Nearest has denied the allegations in a detailed response filed with the Court. 

Other claims made by the bank against Uncle Nearest, according to the Court  filings, include claims that Uncle Nearest “ used proceeds of a loan to purchase an over $2 million home on Martha’s Vineyard through a non-loan party and mortgaged such property to another lender.” 

The bank also asserts that the company “provided apparently inaccurate Borrowing Base reports with respect to the whiskey barrels that constitute a majority of the Lender’s collateral” and sold barrels to generate cash to pay past due obligations to parties other than the Lender.

On Aug. 3, Uncle Nearest filed a response in opposition to Farm Credit Mid-America PCA’s emergency motion for the immediate appointment of a receiver, “given the multiple salacious and inaccurate allegations in both Plaintiff’s Complaint and Motion,” according to the response.

Uncle Nearest claims that the overstated barrel inventory was made by its former chief financial officer, who has now been terminated, and that the bank approved the line of credit increase without verifying inventory, according to the Court filing by Uncle Nearest’s legal counsel.

In addition to their other responses, Uncle Nearest notes that contrary to the bank’s claims that Uncle Nearest was derelict in payment obligations, Uncle Nearest paid nearly $9 million in loan payments in 2024 and $7.5 in 2025, according to their response. These payments were made while Uncle Nearest worked to resolve the technical default caused by the former CFO, according to their response to the bank’s action.

During the resolution effort, Uncle Nearest says it engaged a third-party financial advisory firm, approved by the bank, to negotiate a path forward alongside the bank. 

Fawn Weaver launched Uncle Nearest in 2017 in honor of Nearest Green, the first-known African American master distiller in the first brand ever named for a black American.  The distillery sits on a 432-acre site in Shelbyville, dubbed “Malt Disney World” by some. 

Uncle Nearest is the fastest-growing American Whiskey brand in U.S. history and is sold in all 50 states,12 countries and more than 25,000 stores.

Steve Gill is the Publisher of TriStar Daily.