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Uncle Nearest Holds Second-Annual Old Fashioned Challenge To Raise $1.4M For HBCUs

@SpectacularMag

Uncle Nearest Premium Whiskey recently announced the launch of its HBCU Old Fashioned Challenge, a nationwide initiative to raise $1.4 million for historically Black colleges and universities (HBCUs) and raise awareness about the role HBCUs play in workforce diversity and economic mobility.

The initiative officially kicked off on Martin Luther King, Jr. Day (Monday, January 15), and will run through to Juneteenth (Wednesday, June 19). Uncle Nearest has been partnering with restaurants, bars, retailers, and e-commerce partners to raise the funds.

“Before we sold our first bottle of Uncle Nearest, we were already funding the college education of Nearest Green’s descendants,” Fawn Weaver, Founder and CEO of Uncle Nearest, said in a press release. “Every semester, writing those checks brought me immense joy, knowing the significant impact they would have on each student’s life. This feeling resurfaced when I began writing tuition checks to HBCUs for our Old Fashioned Challenge. It’s an honor, and I hope we can continue this tradition annually with the checks growing larger as the Uncle Nearest whiskey family expands.”

Fawn Weaver (left), Chairman, CEO, and Founder, and Victoria Eady Butler (right), Master Blender of Uncle Nearest Premium Whiskey

Victoria Eady Butler, the great-great-granddaughter of Nearest Green and four-time Master Blender of the Year, added that the HBCU Old Fashioned Challenge “is something special.”

“Uncle Nearest gives a lot, with ‘pulling as we climb’ being part of our DNA right from the start, but this challenge is something special ’cause we’re inviting our whiskey family to join us in giving back,” she said in the release. “Seeing the excitement from them and our thousands of retail, restaurant, bar, hotel, and airline partners across the country even before this year’s challenge kicked off lets me know we’ve started something extraordinary. To our whiskey family and partners everywhere, thank y’all!”

There are a few ways to participate in Uncle Nearest’s HBCU Old Fashioned Challenge, including:

  1. Ordering an Uncle Nearest Old Fashioned cocktail at participating bars and restaurants, where one dollar will be donated per drink ordered.
  2. Purchasing a bottle of Uncle Nearest Premium Whiskey at participating online and physical retail stores, where one dollar will be donated per bottle purchased.
  3. ReserveBar is selling Old Fashioned Cocktail Kits, featuring a bottle of Uncle Nearest as well as syrup and bitters from Hella Cocktail Co., a Black-owned bitters and soda company. For every kit sold, both Uncle Nearest and ReserveBar are donating $1 each to the challenge.
  4. Submitting a photograph of a homemade Uncle Nearest Old Fashioned to www.oldfashionedcocktail.com, where one dollar will be donated per submission.

For more information on Uncle Nearest’s HBCU Old Fashioned Challenge, please visit www.oldfashionedcocktail.com.

Image Credit: Uncle Nearest Premium Whiskey