Troubled distillery wants emergency hearing to keep ‘trade secrets’ from competitors
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- Weavers seek emergency hearing to lift receivership stay and file counterclaims.
- Farm Credit alleges more than $108 million default; receiver controls distillery.
- Weavers warn competitors seek access to trade secrets as assets face sale.
Nearest Green Distillery and Uncle Nearest whiskey founder Fawn Weaver is requesting an immediate hearing in federal court in an attempt to stave off potential competitors trying to buy the business.
New counsel for Weaver and her husband Keith Weaver filed an emergency motion late Nov. 24 seeking to lift a stay in the receiver’s control of their business so they can file counterclaims against their lender, Kentucky-based Farm Credit. The judge has set a Dec. 2 deadline for responses.
The troubled whiskey brand has been in receivership since September after Farm Credit sued, alleging the Weavers defaulted on more than $108 million in loans.
It’s one of several bourbon and whiskey distillers face with financial difficulties in the last year ranging from liens and lawsuits to bankruptcy as the industry faces a glut of overproduction and falling sales.
In October, U.S. District Judge Charles Atchley Jr. gave the Weavers a timeline to turn over more financial records on their businesses to determine if the receivership should be expanded to include potentially related entities they operate.
Now, the Weavers want to start over again. They say in the new filing they were “blindsided” by Farm Credit’s original request to put the distillery and whiskey brand into the hands of a neutral party. They also dispute the amount Uncle Nearest owes on its loans and want the judge to let them re-litigate the receivership.
The Weavers previously have said they do not dispute the fact that they defaulted on the Farm Credit loan or the amount. But now, they say “there has not even been an adjudication as to whether the Farm Credit debt, that is the basis of the proceeding before this court, is validly owed and or is reduced in whole or in part due.”
The Weavers did not name a specific dollar amount in the filling.
They want the judge to stop the receiver from “providing imminent access to proprietary commercial information by third parties” while they present new motions, including that the Weavers may have claims that exceed Farm Credit’s secured debt.
Potential buyers looking at Uncle Nearest?
Why the switch up? According to the filing, the receiver is “moving toward a potential permanent disposition of the defendant’s assets.”
Receiver Phillip Young Jr. has hired investment banker Arlington Capital Advisors to pursue two options: refinancing Farm Credit’s loans and marketing “substantially all assets of the debtors,” which could include the Tennessee distillery.
Selling the distillery and any whiskey barrels on hand now, “when the spirit industry overall is in a lull will undoubtedly result in a price that does not accurately reflect the full market value of the company,” the Weavers said in the most recent filing. Fawn Weaver has claimed Uncle Nearest is a billion-dollar brand.
They said “any valid claims” of Farm Credit will get paid in full, but “a sale in the receivership will undoubtedly result in the shareholders of Uncle Nearest receiving significantly less value.”
There are an unknown number of outside investors in Uncle Nearest, but the single largest shareholder is an entity owned by Fawn Weaver, according to the company.
The Weavers said “several competitors in the spirits industry” are already contacting the investment banker and are trying to get a look at confidential information, including Uncle Nearest’s “trade secrets.”
Two major spirits companies already own nearby properties: Louisville-based Brown-Forman owns industry giant Jack Daniel’s Tennessee Whiskey and British giant Diageo owns George Dickel Tennessee Whisky.
This story was originally published November 25, 2025 at 10:14 AM.
