Nathan "Nearest" Green the slave that taught Jack Daniels how to make whiskey

hubman

hubman

Well-known member
 
I thought the story in the above link was a very interesting piece of American history. I'm not a drinker but I have bought a bottle of Uncle Nearest as a keepsake.
 
https://www.nearestgreen.com/

This beautifully shot short film, telling the story of the first known African- American master distiller, is about much more than whiskey. It is a story of honor, respect, and an unlikely friendship that could be the greatest American story you never heard.
 
well, some story has to be the greatest.


Seems like a nice bit of Americana at the least. Wonder who taught him and given that his descendents continued to work for the distillery, why they took so long to get the story out?
 
eastisbest said:
well, some story has to be the greatest.


Seems like a nice bit of Americana at the least. Wonder who taught him and given that his descendents continued to work for the distillery, why they took so long to get the story out?
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Somewhere I read they believe some of the techniques may have been brought over from Africa, because similar techniques of distilling were used in Africa then. Not sure what took so long for the story to come out, but they say it really was not a secret in that area.
 
hubman said:
Somewhere I read they believe some of the techniques may have been brought over from Africa, because similar techniques of distilling were used in Africa then. Not sure what took so long for the story to come out, but they say it really was not a secret in that area.
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I can believe that, those societies are so old and so closed. I've come to the realization that history is revisionist. New facts, "new" stories bring a different light and a new audience to old understanding. There are still foods I crave, that I've no idea how they were made and haven't found in any "african" restaurant in the states. A taxi driver I'd used a lot took me down a back sandy alley where he got lunch. Foreingers weren't really "allowed" (so he said) and she did kind of give me a crooked eye until he talked to her. Some lady with a aluminum cook pot, who wouldh't tell anyone how she made her fish stew. MAN I MISS THAT.

Not sure why this story wasn't thought interesting enough until now to make a bigger story but I imagine it has more to do with marketing a product than clarifying history. Regardless, sounds fun, very Mark Twainish.
 
eastisbest said:
I've come to the realization that history is revisionist. New facts, "new" stories bring a different light and a new audience to old understanding.





Not sure why this one wasn't thought interesting enough until now to make a bigger story but I imagine it has more to do with marketing a product than clarifying history. Regardless, sounds fun, very Mark Twainish.
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Raspberries
 
www.today.com

Tennessee distillery honors legacy of Nearest Green

Over 160 years ago, the legendary name in whiskey, Jack Daniel, learned a secret ingredient for whiskey from a formerly enslaved man named Nearest Green. Now, Fawn Weaver and one of Green’s descendants, Victoria Eady Butler, are telling Green’s story and starting a distillery to honor his legacy.
www.today.com www.today.com
 
Cool story. Most great inventors and craftsmen were not great businessmen. Only later are many of these brilliant minds given their due.

Reminds me of Tesla and Edison...when I was a kid very few people ever heard of Tesla and if they did it was something like "he was Edison's apprentice or something? Tesla was the weird guy who went bankrupt?... That is what the history books all said... It is only in the last few years that the general population began to realize Tesla for what he was. History lost and history found.
 
I can say I was at one time on the Tesla bandwagon for the same reason most were, he seemed esoteric. He was portrayed as a showman, a counterpoint to the mainstream. Felt to be "in the know" to know of him.

Now? Tesla is a fad I think. He's liked (even though unlikable) because Edison isn't. Edison was the capitalists. Ultimately, Tesla's contributions were experimental and generally unrecorded. He didn't even know how to record them.

He saved us from a wrong path to DC simply because he opposed Edison but ultimately, it was the work of Maxwell and then Oliver Heaviside that made AC what it is. There are many interesting parallels between Tesla and Heaviside. Both generally self-taught, swimming against the stream, a bit nutty. Both fit GRock's description.

It's Heaviside who made the long term contribution and is under recognized IMO. He not only invented like Tesla, he made himself mathematically proficient enought to reduce Maxwell's volumes into a t-shirt.

History is what it is, revisionist subject to new findings.
 
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eastisbest said:
I can say I was at one time on the Tesla bandwagon for the same reason most were, he seemed esoteric. He was portrayed as a showman, a counterpoint to the mainstream. Felt to be "in the know" to know of him.

Now? Tesla is a fad I think. He's liked (even though unlikable) because Edison isn't. Edison was the capitalists. Ultimately, Tesla's contributions were experimental and generally unrecorded. He didn't even know how to record them.

He saved us from a wrong path to DC simply because he opposed Edison but ultimately, it was the work of Maxwell and then Oliver Heaviside that made AC what it is. There are many interesting parallels between Tesla and Heaviside. Both generally self-taught, swimming against the stream, a bit nutty. Both fit GRock's description.

It's Heaviside who made the long term contribution and is under recognized IMO. He not only invented like Tesla, he made himself mathematically proficient enought to reduce Maxwell's volumes into a t-shirt.

History is what it is, revisionist subject to new findings.
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Nice info, eastisbest, but where did you get that piece of fake trivia?

The truth is that Nikola Tesla placed himself in a hypnotic trance and communicated telepathically to aliens from the Orion Constellation. The grey aliens directly supplied him with secrets of the universe, including A/C technology and radio technology. I saw it on an "Ancient Aliens" episode, so it must be true. A very reputable source.
 
Since I dropped cable, I can't get Orion unless the kid with the attenna holds it in the middle hand while standing on three.... uh... oh...
 
The TESLA TOWER ~ meant to transmit usable wireless AC electricity.

250px-Tesla_Broadcast_Tower_1904.jpeg


:>---

SALT
 
ohiopup said:
The TESLA TOWER ~ meant to transmit usable wireless AC electricity.

250px-Tesla_Broadcast_Tower_1904.jpeg


:>---

SALT
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I'm no Tesla, but how was wireless electricity even supposed to work?

Sending electricity through the air or through radio waves seems like a really bad idea. What could go wrong? ;)
 
electricity and radiowaves are the same thing. Electricity being more the effects on matter to most people. It's the power and frequency that allow transmission efficiency and energy release.

emmm, that explanation sucked. I should be better. Stick your tongue in an outlet. That's your tongue feeling the power of a low frequency, high energy "radiowave." Low and high being relative. For a more detailed explanation:
d4352a5b3c279a363a8c4305e284834535641c2d

cf9e109520b72b65cf6a5c3a361154497cafc86d

c92310aa8124951fd3891b68802f170721e80a3a


emmm, and Ohm's I think
c88a568a0425846525e34fb921613ce2e3955389


If Frequency is zero, those simplify to V=IR.

Could be wrong. Been awhile since I had to think.
 
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BlackHawk said:
I'm no Tesla, but how was wireless electricity even supposed to work?

Sending electricity through the air or through radio waves seems like a really bad idea. What could go wrong? ;)
Click to expand...

Well...

=> It could make all the people with head hair (I'm bald) stand on end
(like Van de Graaff generator)

=> Let you pickup music when you grind your teeth
(if you have fillings/braces with alternate metals)

=> Cook you brains if the wave lengths are micro-small

=> Disrupt your motor functions thru synapse interference

=> interrupt/shutdown alternate electrical signals/grids
IE...

:>---

SALT
 
gneiss rocks said:
Cool story. Most great inventors and craftsmen were not great businessmen. Only later are many of these brilliant minds given their due.

Reminds me of Tesla and Edison...when I was a kid very few people ever heard of Tesla and if they did it was something like "he was Edison's apprentice or something? Tesla was the weird guy who went bankrupt?... That is what the history books all said... It is only in the last few years that the general population began to realize Tesla for what he was. History lost and history found.
Click to expand...
I guess a similar version of that with local ties (at least local to me) would be Charles Goodyear the scientist that patented the process of vulcanizing rubber but died pretty much penniless.
 
Has it been decided whether Daniel's just learned whisky making from Green and made his own whiskey or did you he use Green's recipe? If he did, then why would there be any difference in Jack Daniel's and this new distillery's whiskey? MIght as well get cheapest.

Slaves made rum out of molassis but I don't know if there are any legacy brands of it.

I'll tell you I don't think this was a skill brought over. The good ol boys sitting on the beach drinking out the large container of homemade palm wine had some milky eyes on them. For a large continent, doesn't have too many traditional brews worth keeping.
 
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