Andy & Charlie Nelson

“Family Brand Restorers”

In 2006, brothers William “Andy” and Charles “Charlie” Nelson took an unconventional path to entering the whiskey business when a simple beef purchase their father made from a local butcher in Greenbrier, Tennessee, changed their professional lives forever.

Little did both young men understand their ancestry until they visited the butcher shop with their father. While stopping for gas, youngest brother Charlie noticed a historical marker stating Nelson’s Green Brier Distillery, one mile east on Long Branch Road. Charles Nelson opened the Green Brier Distillery.”  Upon arriving at the butcher, the duo asked a few questions and immediately began to learn the rich history of a whiskey empire that their great-great-great-grandparents, Charles and Louisa Nelson, operated before Tennessee Prohibition in 1909.  The story of elder Charles immigrating from Germany with his family and losing his father and all the family’s fortunes after their vessel encountered rough weather at sea is nothing short of breathtaking.

With fascination, the two brothers would soon embark on a whiskey journey of their own.  With no experience in the spirits industry other than some part-time bartending, the brothers faced significant challenges ahead.  However, after visiting the local historical society in Greenbrier and researching the history of their ancestors, they found recipes as well as bottles from the previous iconic brand which included their family name.  The younger Nelson sibling became even more intrigued and motivated since his birth name was the same as the elder: “Charles”.

Both brothers grew up in Nashville but attended Loyola Marymount College in Los Angeles California, and both majored in Humanities—not the typical background for distillers. Andy graduated in 2005 and immediately got an internship at the Country Music Association in Nashville, later working at a software publishing company.   Charlie had a semester of college remaining when the two discovered the history of the distillery and had just received a grant to study cave paintings in Spain, Italy, and France.  It was during this time the two boys would start reaching out to others with knowledge in the industry and begin working to identify potential funding sources for their plan.

By this time, the duo were driven to restore the family business, and they spent the next three years researching, raising capital and preparing to renew the family legacy with a new vision, resurrecting the Nelson’s Green Brier whiskey brand, taking inspiration from their elder’s original recipes.  The brothers reached out to both Lincoln Henderson of Woodford Reserve and Dave Pickerell, longtime Master Distiller for Maker’s Mark, and received valuable advice early in the process.  Both veteran distillers encouraged the brothers to continue their journey and offered friendly support along the way.

It was exactly one hundred years following Tennessee Prohibition and subsequent closure of the Nelson Green Brier distillery, that in 2009, state laws changed allowing an additional 41 Tennessee counties the option to begin distilling – prior to the new law, only 3 counties (Lincoln, Coffee, and Moore) could do so.  The three counties were dominated by behemoths Jack Daniel’s and George Dickel, but things seemed to be heading in the right direction for both brothers, and after meeting with several brokers over a three year period, the Nelsons would lean on the advice from Pickerell and later partner with sourcer Lawrence Distillers of Indiana (LDI), to create their first brand, “Belle Meade Bourbon”.

After resurrecting the Belle Meade brand and using their parent’s house as collateral, the brothers finally sold their first bottle of whiskey in March of 2012.  Reinvesting their earnings over the next two years, in early 2014, the Green Brier Distillery was begun in Nashville and re-awarded the original historic designation of DSP-TN-5. On August 11, 2014 the brothers would begin their own distillation and three days later, laid the first barrel for aging of their flagship brand, Nelson’s Green Brier Tennessee Whiskey.

The brand-new distillery opened its doors on Sunday November 23, 2014 and continued to sell its sourced ‘Belle Meade’ brand while also eyeing growth as well as potential investors.  Then in 2016, Constellation Brands took a minority interest in the brand, before acquiring a controlling interest in 2019.  Charlie and Andy would continue to operate and manage the distillery, now benefiting from the resources and capital of a large investor with knowledge in the industry.  On October 1, 2019, the first barrel of Nelson’s Green Brier Tennessee Whiskey was ready to be bottled and promptly sold out. The distillery itself served as a backdrop on New Year’s Eve when Andy Nelson married his bride Kristen at the gorgeous distillery in downtown Nashville. Later, Charlie also married his bride Rita at the facility.

Today, Charlie Nelson is the President & CEO of Nelson’s Green Brier Distillery, LLC, while Andy serves as the Head Distiller for the company.  The two brothers continue to build on their family’s heritage, and in 2022, announced plans to discontinue their sourced Belle Meade brand’s availability nationally. The brand then transitioned to only the distillery-made Nelson Brothers Whiskey, which is now available in both a “Classic” and “Reserve” line.

Both Andy and Charlie have made an effort to pay tribute to the late Louisa Nelson for her contributions to the family name, company, and whiskey business with an annual Louisa Nelson Award. The award recognizes the achievements, vision, and inspiration of three female leaders from Nashville’s business and cultural communities. Grandma Louisa is also honored by having a caramel pecan liqueur named after her: rich, decadent and perfect in coffee.

Andy now also hosts a program called “Still Life”, which is a podcast about bourbon and other things that are of interest to whiskey aficionados.


Contributed by Brad Martens, Columbia, Missouri

Nelson’s GreenBrier Tennessee Whiskey Line

Louisa’s Liqueur and Louisa’s Award