NATIONAL BBQ WEEK: UNCLE NEAREST X FROM THE ASHES COLLABORATION
Partnership brings Tennessee to Hackney, via Five Points Brewing Co.
Whiskey and barbecued meat. It’s right up there with Lennon and McCartney as one of the greatest partnerships of all time. And seeing as The Beatles aren’t gigging any time soon, we recommend hotfooting it up to Hackney for what we’re calling THE event of National Barbecue Week.
Five Points Brewing Co has joined forces with Uncle Nearest Whiskey and From The Ashes to bring you a two-week celebration of all things fire-grilled and America’s finest liquor.
A special menu brings food and drink together through whiskey-infused dishes and expertly crafted cocktail pairings, all served up in the Five Points Brewing Co courtyard, which is currently home to barbecue duo From The Ashes.
Dishes include a Bourbon Braised Caramelised Onion and Ogleshield Empanada and Grilled Bavette Steak with a Smoked Bourbon, Green Peppercorn & Tarragon Sauce, which both harness the flavours of Uncle Nearest 1884 Small Batch Whiskey; and the Sticky Bourbon BBQ Smoked Short-Rib with Charred Oyster Mushrooms, using Uncle Nearest 1956 Premium Whiskey.
Five Points Brewing presents an exclusive Uncle Nearest cocktail pairing for each dish. Crafted to enhance the flavours, the three cocktails include an Apricot Whiskey Sours, made using Uncle Nearest 1856 Premium Whiskey. Hackney Lemonade, Five Points Brewing’s take on a Lynchburg Lemonade made using Uncle Nearest 1884 Small Batch Whiskey, and the Uncle Nearest x From The Ashes Pickleback, a mix of Uncle Nearest 1884 Small Batch Whiskey and From The Ashes Signature Pickle Juice.
If you’re not aware of Uncle Nearest, then you should be. The brand pays tribute to the world’s first-known African American master distiller, Nathan ‘Nearest’ Green and was the first spirits brand to bear the name of a Black American.
But as is sadly, often the case with Black History in America, Nathan Green took the long and difficult road to fame. While enslaved in Tennessee, Nathan befriended a seven-year old orphan called Jack, who’d been sent to work as a farm boy, and taught him the distilling tricks he’d learned while working on a plantation. That farm boy went on to put his new skills to good use and when Nathan was eventually emancipated, there was a job waiting at his friend, Jack Daniel’s distillery.
It wasn’t until 2016, when historian and entrepreneur Fawn Weaver stumbled upon Green’s story, that she embarked on a mission to honour him and finally see the Uncle Nearest name on the shelves. Now, 160 years after Jack and Nathan first met in the fields of Tennessee, whiskey bearing his name has won more than 1075 awards throughout the world and was the most awarded American whiskey for the past five years running.
Regulars to Hackney’s Five Points Brew Co will know all about From The Ashes, otherwise knowns as smoke-maestros Martin Anderson and Curtis Bell. The idea of an eatery based around three, simple factors - smoke, fat and flavour - formed while they worked together in the kitchen of Soho’s celebrated Temper restaurant and From the Ashes finally came to fruition during the pandemic as a delivery concept.
As their popularity surged, they decided to make the masses come to them, instead - and a hatch in Hackney Wick provided the perfect place to hone their nose-to-tail BBQ concept. Word of their Treacle Glazed Pork Belly Ribs, Del Piero Doughnuts Smoked Pork Buns set tongues wagging, and the queues grew by the week until the hatch finally closed in October 2022.
Unperturbed, they moved on to bigger things: pop-ups, kitchen residencies, festivals and events all over London.
But we’re calling it now: Their collaboration with Uncle Nearest is undoubtedly their most exciting offering yet.
The BBQ week menu will run from:
May 23rd to 26th - Available in the evenings on Thursday & Friday and all day on Saturday & Sunday
May 30th to June 2nd - Available in the evenings on Thursday & Friday and all day on Saturday
Five Points Brewing, 61 Mare Street, London, E8 4RG
