Fawn Weaver hits out at additives in 'Tequila takedown' - The Spirits Business

The founder of Uncle Nearest Premium Whiskey, Fawn Weaver, has taken aim at additives in Tequila in a series of ‘Tequila takedown’ social media videos.

In the first of two Instagram videos posted on Weaver’s Instagram account, the founder opens the first by saying: “Regulators, welcome to Tequila takedown part one.”

The video sees Fawn sat amidst bottles of Uncle Nearest whiskey, and a selection of Tequila brands, which she said all contain additives.

“But do you know what is 100% additive free, naturally sugar free, naturally carb free, naturally fat free, naturally gluten free?,” the video continued. “Uncle Nearest, every single bottle.”

Weaver then breaks into dance as a text display says: “POV: You were today’s years old when you discovered Uncle Nearest is cleaner than your favorite Tequila.”

The second video starts in a similar fashion, but moves to pitting imported Tequila – which has to be made in Mexico – against American-made whiskey and Bourbon.

In the follow-up video, Weaver opens with: “Regulators, welcome to Tequila takedown part two. What is this really about? Market share. For whatever reason, Americans have decided they want to spend more money on a foreign import with additives than they do from our natural, native spirit, Bourbon.”

In 2022, Tequila overtook American whiskey to become the second most valuable spirit category in the US, as reported by IWSR Drinks Market Analysis Data.

While Weaver explicitly declares her love for Tequila during the second video ­– “I love Tequila. If you love Tequila, that’s awesome,” – she continues to criticise the use of additives in some Tequilas, and Americans choosing to drink more Tequila than their native spirit. “Why are we importing things with additives? That’s the question,” Weaver asked.

She said: “So, let’s talk about this; so, Tequila, Tequila has been on its way to taking over as the number-one spirit in America. Do y’all realise how odd that is, when it’s filled, so many of them, with additives?

“So, here’s the problem: I love Tequila. If you love Tequila, that’s awesome. But all the Tequilas I was drinking had additives – and I had no idea. So I went to the store, and spent 20 or 30 minutes in the aisle Googling one by one all the different Tequilas I love: 1942, Don Julio, we can go down a whole list, and I couldn’t find any website that would tell me straight up which ones had additives, and I couldn’t figure out why, and then I came across a letter – you can just Google it – it’s from the CRT, the governing body of Tequila, instructing Tequila makers and producers as of August 12th 2024 not to label if they’re additive-free.”

Three weeks ago, the Additive Free Alliance posted a video explaining it would be removing all Tequila brands from the Additive Free Alliance list to protect them from “retribution and legal action from their own regulator [the CRT] for participating in this programme”.

‘We should be drinking our own spirit’

Weaver continued in her second video: “Not only are they [the CRT] saying they won’t certify it, but they are telling them, don’t promote it. Why? Because according to them, it would cause confusion. People in this big old market America would want to know, well if this one is additive free, what’s this other one I’ve been drinking?

“So I’ll tell you this, the one I chose was Patrón El Cielo – it’s delicious by the way – but do you know how much digging I had to go through to figure out whether or not that had additives? It shouldn’t be that hard. And we should be drinking our own spirit.

“Uncle Nearest Tennessee whiskey, straight Bourbon whiskey, you know what means? There’s nothing in this except for grains. We distil it, we add nothing to it. But here’s the beautiful thing about Uncle Nearest, it’s an all-American spirit. The process that’s used in this, it came in with the Africans, the West Africans, my ancestors. This is the one product that whites and Blacks made together and are fully credited together.

“So when you drink uncle Nearest, additive free, all natural, delicious – but most importantly, it’s American y’all.”

Trade responds to Weaver’s posts

The videos received mixed responses, with trade professionals hitting back at some of the claims made in Weaver’s videos.

The Agave Social Club founder Doug Price posted a response to the second Weaver video, which said: “My style is not to hate on anyone. The world has enough of that, the internet has enough of that, but I was pretty disappointed in this video. And it honestly comes off as a little bit of a PR, marketing gimmick because they know Tequila is selling so much.

“She also acts like the TMM, Tequila Matchmaker app never existed, or she didn’t know it existed because she talks on and on about how she can’t find if there’s Tequilas that are additive-free when there’s been an incredible database that tells you the majority or a lot of the brands that are additive-free. And it’s also weird timing that yeah, TMM has pulled down that list because, yeah, there’s some drama going on in the Tequila world.

“The weirdest part is when she says ‘we should be drinking our own spirit’.

“Hey Fawn, do you know why Tequila is so popular, and will continue to be so popular? Because it’s not exclusive. You’ve got men and women, working so hard to create something that they’re so proud of so that they can share it with us. They don’t care what colour your skin is. They don’t care what country you’re from. All they care is that you’re choosing to be a part of their story.”

Several other videos have also been created by trade professionals in response to Weaver’s posts, including from Ryan Morrissey, CEO of retailer and bartender platform Happiest Ours, and digital creator Lucas Assis, who specialises in Tequila, mezcal, craft spirits and cocktails.

Weaver replies to comments

In response to comments posted on the videos, Weaver wrote back herself on the second video, and said: “Many are commenting without watching the video, where I clearly express my love for Tequila.

“This series is about educating on additives in popular Tequila brands. If you represent an additive-free brand, instead of leaving emotional comments, tag your favourite additive-free Tequilas.

“Our community is full of Tequila lovers like me who’d appreciate this info.”

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