The Uncle Nearest Master Blend Edition is a blend of the best barrels Victoria Eady Butler, their Master Blender, sets aside while blending and working on other projects. I got to meet Victoria a couple of years ago and she’s as nice a person as you can find anywhere and deeply passionate about her work. After all, it is her family name on the distillery.
Victoria is a 5th generation descendant of Nearest Green and when I toured the distillery in 2019 she had a ton of family photos and memorabilia laid out showing a long line of distillery work in her family. Everything that comes out of the Nearest Green distillery is done so under her watch and I really enjoyed the updated Uncle Nearest 1884 Small Batch, so I can only imagine what a blend of honey barrels will be like.
Let’s get to drinkin’!
Uncle Nearest Master Blend Edition – Details and Tasting Notes
Whiskey Details
Cask Strength | Natural Color
Style: Tennessee Whiskey
Region: Tennessee
Distiller: Nearest Green (Contract distilled at TDG)
Mash Bill: 51%+ Corn + Rye + Malted Barley
Cask: New Charred Oak
Age: 4+ Years
ABV: 59.2%
Blend: 005
Uncle Nearest Master Blend Edition Price: $150
Related Whiskey
Uncle Nearest 1884 Small Batch Whiskey
Uncle Nearest 1820 Single Barrel Whiskey
Uncle Nearest 1856
Elvis Tennessee Whiskey
Peg Leg Porker 8 Years
Uncle Nearest Master Blend Edition Tasting Notes
EYE
Dark oak
NOSE
Oak, dark fruit, baking spice, biscuity, caramel, char, vanilla and dark cocoa.
The oak hangs heavy here, but after a few seconds, it breaks up a bit and allows a rich profile of sweetness, spice and baked goods come through.
PALATE
Oak, dark fruit, baking spice, biscuity, caramel, char, vanilla and dark cocoa.
A rich carbon copy of the aroma that glides over the palate even at full cask strength. This is mighty tasty.
FINISH
Long -> Oak, dark fruit, cocoa and baking spice
BALANCE, BODY and FEEL
Well-balanced, full-body, warm velvety feel.
Uncle Nearest Master Blend Edition – Overall Thoughts and Score
Rich, dark, warm, heavy, nice. That’s how I’d describe this whiskey in just five words. The aroma punches through with a heavy oak that surged out of the bottle as soon as I opened it. The palate is a velvety mix of the same notes from the aroma. The only thing it’s missing is a bit more depth and complexity, but that will come.
This release was made using only barrels they, Nearest Green Distillery, contract distilled in 2017. So the whiskey in the bottle is between 4-5 years old. Time and maturity will bring more depth to the Uncle Nearest Master Blend Edition and I only expect this to get better with future releases.
SCORE: 4/5 (good, definitely recommend ~ B+ | 87-89)
*Disclosure: The bottle for this Tennessee Whiskey review was graciously sent to me by the company without obligation. The views, opinions, and tasting notes are 100% my own.
Uncle Nearest Master Blend Edition Review $150
Overall
- Nose(4)
- Palate(4)
- Finish(4)
- BBF(4)
Hi Josh, glad to see a new review. I got to be honest though, 4 year old TDG for $150 doesn’t appeal to me. The 1884 small batch is $40 and was given a 3.5 rating and this is only a half point better for $110 more! Also all of the backstory about the nice distiller lady and the 5th generation just comes off as marketing hype. As you often say it’s what’s in the bottle that counts, but at this price no way!
Hey Mike, that’s why I never take price into consideration in the reviews, just the whiskey in the bottle and then I let folks decide if the price is worth it to them. Money is such a subjective thingy, I have friends, myself included, who seriously have to weigh anything over $80. And then I have other friends who don’t even give a thought to dropping $1,000 on a bottle. So no, I don’t blame you and at the price difference I would indeed buy the 1884 instead.
As for the story, as far as I’ve seen it’s an actual, true, interesting story that is only now getting told. I understand the impulse to write it off as marketing hype, we’ve grown so incredibly jaded from all the BS stories that it’s hard to accept a real one. All I can say is from my experience and reading the books that mention the family this is one of the more legit ones out there.