Written by Besa Gordon: Recently, I headed to West Seattle for the HBCU drink competition, where eight different bartenders came together to compete and see who could make the best Old Fashioned using Uncle Nearest Whiskey. For those that don't know, the whiskey is named after the formerly enslaved man, Nathan "Nearest" Green, who taught a young Jack Daniel the craft of distilling. As of 2023, eight brand variants have been produced. According to the IWSR, Uncle Nearest is the fastest-growing whiskey brand in the United States and is recognized as the most successful black-owned distillery in the world.

As for the competition, it wasn't just about whiskey. It was about a national campaign to raise $1.4 million dollars for Uncle Nearest's HBCU scholarship fund.

I'm not going to lie; this event was a vibe because, like I said, it wasn't just about drinking. It was about raising money for HBCUs and preserving the history of the Uncle Nearest brand. To learn more about Uncle Nearest raising money for Historically Black Colleges and Universities, head over to oldfashionedcocktail.com/the-why.

This was a segment that was initially aired on Back2Besa. Be sure to catch segments on Back2Besa Saturdays at 10:30 pm on FOX 13 Seattle and Sundays on FOX 13 +.

See more photos below taken by Chloe Collyer on behalf of Converge Media.