Tasting notes

nose

Cinnamon bark and honeyed caramel candy over fresh-cut oak, with cracked peppercorn, pipe tobacco and an earthy undertone

palate

Dense and syrupy, moving from buttery caramel into stone fruit and grilled pineapple, then black pepper, cinnamon and allspice over heavy oak tannin, with leather and roasted nuts underneath

finish

Long, holding peppercorn, roasted nuts and a trace of dark maple syrup over charred oak and leather, then drying to earthy tannin while a faint fruit note lingers at the end

Mash bill

Uncle Nearest has not published a grain recipe for the Master Blend Edition or named the grains in it.

Awards

• 1st Place — International Whisky Competition 2022
• Best in Class — Whiskies of the World Awards 2022
• Best in Bourbon — Great American International Spirits Competition 2022

Why it's craft

Master blender Victoria Eady Butler, a fifth-generation descendant of Nearest Green, sets aside the barrel she rates highest from every batch of Uncle Nearest, and this edition is blended only from those barrels and bottled at full strength at Nearest Green Distillery in Shelbyville, which opened in 2019. Early batches were made from whiskey distilled elsewhere, while batch 005 was the first built from the distillery's own spirit. Uncle Nearest, Inc. has been run by a federal court-appointed receiver since August 2025, who as of October 2026 was still negotiating a sale of the company's assets.