Melcher Media, the distinguished book producer and publisher of over 30 New York Times bestselling books known for its bespoke and exquisitely crafted titles for the world’s most renowned celebrities and brands—including Oprah Winfrey, Kobe Bryant, J.J. Abrams, Lexus, Nike, and Microsoft—announced today that its newest title by New York Times bestselling author and Uncle Nearest founder and CEO, Fawn Weaver, Love & Whiskey: The Remarkable True Story of Jack Daniel, His Master Distiller Nearest Green, and the Improbable Rise of Uncle Nearest, appears destined for national bestseller status four months prior to release.
The book cover, which Weaver unveiled for the first time alongside actor Jeffrey Wright on CBS’ “The Talk” on February 22, generated significant buzz online. Wright first shared the story of Jack Daniel and Nearest Green in a 2017 short film titled “The Story of Nearest Green” and the producers of The Talk confirmed the aligned booking was purely serendipitous. This milestone event marked an exciting moment in the book’s journey toward publication, set for June 18, 2024.
“We were in the middle of 2016, and in my 40 years of living up until that point, I had only seen America through the lens of grace, never through the lens of race. And for the first time, I was being forced to see it in another light,” Weaver began in describing what made her write this book. “And this story came to me when I needed hope for America. And I believed that hope was embedded in this story. I was right.”
The hardcover book, which is 380 pages and includes more than 30 pages of notes and references, chronicles Weaver’s journey from her first finding the story through a piece in The New York Times titled, “Jack Daniel’s Embraces a Secret Ingredient: Help From a Slave,” to her assembling more than 30 historians, archivists, genealogists, researchers, and conservators, interviewing and spending time with more than 100 of Nearest Green’s descendants, as well as many of the surviving descendants of Jack Daniel, pulling thousands of documents from more than six states over the course of more than seven years, and leading to the founding and building of Uncle Nearest Premium Whiskey, the $1 billion company and the fastest-growing American whiskey brand in U.S. history. Reminiscent of “The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks,” Weaver seamlessly weaves together the lives of Nearest Green, Jack Daniel, and their descendants from 1849 until present day, as well as her own journey of discovery and determination to build the first spirit conglomerate to be founded by a woman or person of color.
“People from around the globe have clearly been eagerly awaiting this book,” said Charles Melcher, founder and CEO of Melcher Media, Inc. “We couldn’t be prouder to represent a title that is quickly becoming one of the most highly anticipated releases of the summer.”
Most books sell less than 5,000 copies in the lifespan of the book. Love & Whiskey sold more than 10,000 copies in its first week, through local independent retailers around the country, as well as larger retailers like Barnes & Noble, Hudson Booksellers, Amazon, Books-A-Million, Bookshop, and Walmart. Books were reported to be sold in all 50 states as well as in Europe, with orders coming in from as far as Germany, Switzerland, and the United Kingdom.
The book also reached No. 17 in the Top 100 books on Amazon, the largest book retailer in America, and remained No. 1 in seven out of its eight categories for most of the week, including Women’s Memoirs, U.S. State and Local History, Culinary Biographies & Memoirs, and Black & African American Biographies. It was also listed on Amazon as the No. 1 “Mover & Shaker.”
