Court says Uncle Nearest was ‘haemorrhaging money’
Uncle Nearest will remain under the control of a receiver after a judge rejected co-founder Fawn Weaver’s appeal.
Phillip G Young Jr was appointed as a receiver for Uncle Nearest in August 2025, after its lender, Farm Credit Mid-America, claimed the American whiskey brand had defaulted on more than US$100 million in loans.
Uncle Nearest’s co-founders, Fawn and Keith Weaver, have since fought the receivership and even attempted to file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy without Young’s authority.
The judge denied the filing, after which the receiver subsequently requested a gag order for the Weavers and financial sanctions for their actions.
Now the court has also denied the appeal to end the receivership, which the Weavers filed in December 2025.
In their motion, the Weavers accepted the initial need for a receiver but argued that “circumstances have materially changed” since the appointment, rendering a continuation “inappropriate”.
In response, the court argued that Uncle Nearest remains insolvent, and noted that prior to the receivership, the business had been “haemorrhaging money”. It concluded that “Uncle Nearest – under Fawn Weaver’s control – was far better at spending money than making it” and calculated that the business was losing US$134,999 each week on average.
It added that while the receiver has made “commendable progress”, Uncle Nearest is still losing money. The business lost US$13,407 over 14 weeks while under the receiver’s control, not including the costs Uncle Nearest would incur from servicing its debts.
The balance sheet
The court estimated Uncle Nearest’s debts to be US$208 million, of which US$121m was owed to Farm Credit and US$20m to MP-Tenn LLC, a venture capital firm formed by rapper Jay-Z and others.
A further US$45m is owed to Advanced Spirits for the sale and purchase of filled whiskey barrels, as well as more than US$20m in other debts.
The Weavers argued that their business is worth between US$300m and US$325m, which would outweigh its debts.
However, the court rejected the methodology behind this valuation. For the purposes of the motion, it estimated Uncle Nearest to be worth US$50m to US$125m, therefore making it insolvent.
The court also listed the alleged value of the business’ assets, including Nearest Green Distillery (US$70.4m) and its filled whiskey barrels, of which the business has US$81.2m for itself and US$45m for the Advanced Spirits contract. However, it concluded that the Weavers have failed to prove these valuation estimates.
The Weavers claimed that the receivership is damaging the business, with the judge agreeing that sales have declined since the appointment.
It cited Nielsen retail data that showed Uncle Nearest experienced negative sales growth and underperformed the American whiskey market every month from September 2025 through February 2026.
However, the judge ruled it was “virtually impossible” to conclude whether this decline was due to the receiver’s actions or to the litigation more generally, as well as issues with distributors, a decline in marketing efforts and public statements.
A further benefit of the receivership was the prevention of further lawsuits, of which Uncle Nearest was facing several, including an employment discrimination case and a breach of contract case.
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