The ongoing lawsuit between Tennessee-based whiskey brand Uncle Nearest, Inc. and its primary lender, Farm Credit Mid-America, continues to escalate.
On Friday, the bank filed a motion alleging that 11 distinct entities overlap with Uncle Nearest, Inc., in a move to expand on a judge’s previous order that placed Uncle Nearest, Inc. into receivership. As such, Farm Credit Mid-America argues that these assets should be “placed squarely within the scope of the receivership.”
The lawsuit against Uncle Nearest, Inc., its founder Fawn Weaver, and her husband, Keith, was first filed on July 28 and alleged that the defendants had defaulted on over $108 million in loans as far back as January 2024. The filing also included claims that Uncle Nearest had overstated barrel inventory values by over $20 million, often using these barrels as a means of paying off other debts. Weaver has adamantly denied all allegations in a series of posts on social media.
On August 11, the case was taken a step further, with a federal judge issuing a gag order for Weaver, barring the founder and CEO from making any public statements about the case without court permission. The next week, Uncle Nearest, Inc. was placed into receivership by the same federal judge. And now, roughly two months after the initial receivership order was granted, Farm Credit Mid-America is alleging that more assets should be included.
In a document filed on Friday, the lender alleges that “a significant overlap appears to exist between the operation, finances, and likely the personnel of Uncle Nearest and the Additional Entities.” The motion goes on to argue that some of these entities have received assets or proceeds from Uncle Nearest, or Uncle Nearest has paid these parties’ obligations (or vice versa).
Additional entities mentioned in the filing include Grant Sidney, a privately held investment company founded by Weaver, which Farm Credit points out, per information on Uncle Nearest’s website, is enmeshed in the corporation. “Uncle Nearest Premium Whiskey and Nearest Green Distillery are owned by Uncle Nearest, Inc. and Uncle Nearest, Inc. is owned by Grant Sidney. Grant Sidney Inc. is wholly owned by Fawn Weaver.”
Humble Baron, Inc., a Delaware Corporation that shares a name with Humble Baron Bar at Nearest Green Distillery is also named. The suit mentions that the entity “appears to be owned by a blind trust that benefits Keith Weaver.” It is alleged that the funds and operations of Uncle Nearest, Inc. and Humble Baron, Inc. appear to to be “comingled,” with the former having had paid a settlement agreement on the latter’s behalf. Also mentioned in the litigation is a claim that Uncle Nearest, Inc. made two payments (March 22, 2023 and April 29, 2024) to Guinness World Records totaling over $100,000. On March 23, 2023, Humble Baron at Nearest Green Distillery was named the record holder for longest bar in the world.
The remaining nine entities include Uncle Nearest Real Estate Holdings LLC; Shelbyville Barrel House BBQ, LLC; Uncle Nearest Spurs, VI, LLC; Quill and Cask Owner, LLC; Nashwood, Inc.; Classic Hops Brewing Co.; Shelbyville Grand, LLC; Weaver Interwoven Family Foundation; and 4 Park Street, LLC.
Update 9/30/25: On Tuesday, the federal judge presiding over the case ruled that the court needs more information before it can determine whether or not these assets should be included in the receivership.
The court is ordering that the receiver (Phillip G. Young, Jr.) serve a copy of his motion, this order, and the order appointing receiver upon the entities on or before Oct. 14, 2025. Each entity listed shall respond to the motion on or before Oct. 21, 2025, with failure to respond viewed as a waiver of opposition to inclusion in the receivership. The plaintiff (Farm Credit Mid-America) must also file all materials in its possession that it believes offers support for expanding the receivership with the court.
VP Pro Take
“It’s extremely rare to watch such a prominent beverage-alcohol firm go through such a public accounting of its affairs. Last time it actually happened was when Anheuser-Busch InBev and Constellation Brands slugged it out before a jury — a jury! — over the definition of hard seltzer in 2022. We came pretty close again in 2023, when Diageo appeared to be intent on fighting Sean Combs in open court over allegations that it had deprioritized Cîroc Vodka and DeLeon Tequila in its portfolio in violation of the parties’ arrangement. (That one faded after Diddy found himself in a different court for much grimmer reasons.) The fact that we’re getting this sort of sustained, on-the-record accounting of a blue-chip liquor brand that’s shown as much promise as Uncle Nearest is remarkable.
The accounting itself is pretty remarkable as well. Since the case first hit the federal docket last month, it’s been characterized by two things: a steady drumbeat of filings containing juicy new details about how the Weavers used Uncle Nearest to create an appearance of luxury and success that did not match its balance sheet; and a much louder drumbeat of social-media posts from Fawn Weaver bemoaning ‘hit pieces,’ scoffing at ‘gag order[s],’ and insisting this is a mere ‘bump in the road’ on the brand’s inevitable march to whiskey-soaked glory.
This latest filing, which at publication had yet to earn mention from the self-avowed #PeoplesCEO on her prolific Instagram account, represents the biggest challenge yet to her narrative that she and her husband are actually victims of (variously) a deliberate effort to malign them, and a former CFO’s fraud. Now that the court-appointed receiver — the Weavers’ preferred receiver, mind you — has asked Judge Atchley to rule on whether these assets belong under receivership, and FCMA has made its case in the affirmative, the couple’s potential exposure has increased substantially.
‘It’s not unusual for [receivers] to be looking at filing lawsuits if assets of the company were redirected or used for non-company purposes by officers and executives,’ Kevin McGee, a veteran beverage-alcohol attorney who has been following the case, told me via text after the receiver filed his motion for clarification in mid-September. ‘The discovery also validates the lender’s earlier concerns about inability to get an org chart and other financial details (over the course of months of restructuring negotiations) and the need for a receiver.’
Whether hizzoner ultimately agrees with the lender’s argument is another matter. But taken together, the two filings mark a shift in both tone and scope of Uncle Nearest’s woes. This case began as a simple clawback mission by FCMA, with Hizzoner showing considerable sympathy to the cofounders. ‘It looks like you’re out over your skis,’ he told Keith in early August; later, he and the bank noted the importance of keeping Fawn involved as the face of the brand. Since then, though, things have spiraled. Now, this receivership threatens not only to tarnish the crown jewel in the Weavers’ empire, but control of the empire itself. We’ll see how it plays out both figuratively and literally — after all, it’s on the record.” —Dave Infante, VinePair columnist and contributing editor
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