Jeptha Creed Distillery Review

An Up and Coming Distillery to Keep Your Eye On

Jeptha Creed Distillery began as a dream of Joyce and Bruce Nethery, who wanted to start a family business. With their two children, they have created a thriving distillery in Shelbyville, Kentucky. The Scottish saying “Ne Oublie” was a Nethery family motto for generations before they adopted it for their business as well. Its purpose is simple: to remind them to “Never Forget” where they came from.

The Nethery family has farmed in Kentucky since the 1700s. Bruce Nethery became the youngest farmer in the state when, at 18, he purchased his first acres. The distillery farm is located near the Jeptha Knob, the highest point in the Bluegrass region of Shelby County, Kentucky.

The Owners

Jeptha Creed is owned by the mother/daughter team of Joyce and Autumn Nethery.

Joyce received her Master’s in Chemical Engineering from the University of Louisville’s Speed Scientific School. She then spent 15 years as a distillation engineer and taught high school before turning once again to distillation. Jeptha Creed’s Master Distiller “couldn’t be prouder to carry on the state’s long history of distilling the finest spirits in the world.”

Following in her footsteps, daughter Autumn studied distillation at the Heriot-Watt University in Edinburgh, Scotland. She is one of the youngest distillery owners in the United States. Autumn is “committed to keeping Jeptha Creed spirits as natural and authentic as possible” so customers can “trust what is in the bottle.”

The Distillery

The distillery sits on 64 acres packed with corn, berries, and bee hives full of honey. Other ingredients are sourced locally whenever possible. The distillery barns have a modern design based on tobacco barns. And they boast a crew of four granary cats: Barley, Malt, Rye, and Wheat, found during construction as kittens.

Keeping it local included using trees from the farm for countertops. The bars are oak and ash, and the bathrooms counters are cherry.

Happy Accidents

Bloody Butcher Corn

When they decided to start from the ground up, with the grain, they tested different corn varieties, including a few heirlooms. The wildlife made their preference known. They would walk through the yellow corn, leaving it untouched, and munch on the red and purple Bloody Butcher Corn. Bloody Butcher became the basis of their vodkas, moonshine, and bourbon.

Malted Mash

When their master distiller wanted to play around with different mashes, the order arrived wrong. All of the rye, wheat and barley arrived malted. Not wanting to waste anything, they tried it out. The resulting spirit was a pleasant surprise, and they immediately realized they had something unique on their hands.

Jeptha Creed Spirits

It starts with the corn. Bloody Butcher Corn, an heirloom variety first described in 1845, gets its name from the dark red flecks in the ground corn. In 1845, someone thought it looked like the blood specks on a white butcher’s apron, and the name was coined. Bloody Butcher is a type of dent corn, a field corn that is usually yellow, but Bloody Butcher has a bright red and purple cob. It is known for its rich, sweet, nutty flavor and is a favorite with heirloom bakers.

In 2016 Jeptha Creed made history when they distilled their first barrel of bourbon. It was the first legal bourbon made in Shelby County since Prohibition.  

Jeptha Creed Spirits - Vodka, Pawpaw brandy, and Moonshine Lemonade

Bourbon

Jeptha Creed Straight 4-Grain Bourbon, 98 Proof, is made of a 70 percent corn mash, with the addition of their three malted grains, 15 percent rye, 10 percent wheat, and 5 percent barley. The nose is a mix of “sweet cream candies, hydrangeas, morning glories, geranium, dried apricots, red berries, peach cobbler, brown sugar, and blackberry jam” with a palate of “vanilla, nutmeg, clove, and toasted pecans.” 

Their 100 Proof, Bottled-in-Bond Rye Bourbon is a mix of 75 percent corn, 20 percent malted rye, and 5 percent malted barley. Its nose hints at creme brûlée and dried cranberries with a “long smooth buttery finish with whispers of ginger and cinnamon.”

Vodka

Their corn-based 80 proof Vodka includes vodkas flavored with local honey and blueberries. Their coffee Vodka is infused with coffee specially roasted by Fante’s Coffee in Louisville, KY.

Their Hot Pepper Vodka, which they say makes a great Bloody Mary, is infused with Serrano, Jalapeño, and Anaheim peppers and garlic. They describe the color as “translucent Dirty Martini” and the nose as “a vegetable garden after a rain.”

Moonshine

Moonshine, that staple of Kentucky, finds expressions both new and old at Jeptha Creed. (If you need a refresher on the history of Moonshine, here is a brief primer.)

Their Louisville Lemonade is a nod to the cocktail of the same name made with bourbon and lemonade. This unique moonshine combines their 4-grain mash and lemonade. They recommend enjoying it straight or slipping it into some iced tea.

Of course, you can always start with their Original Moonshine. But they also produce moonshine flavored with cinnamon, blackberries, and apples mixed with cinnamon, vanilla, and cloves.

Pawpaw Brandy

Don’t know what a pawpaw is? Well, you aren’t alone. Pawpaws are the largest native edible fruit trees you’ve ever heard of. (Or if you have, let us know when and wherein the comments.)

Their flavor has been described as “forceful and distinct” by Mark F. Sohn, a culinary historian. The taste is a unique, tropical mix of citrus, mango, and banana. Odd, considering pawpaws grow in temperate forests.

Jeptha Creed’s Pawpaw Brandy is as unique as the fruit, with a “warm fresh baked pineapple upside-down cake” nose and a palate with a “fusion of grilled pineapples, mango, and brown sugar,” finished off with notes of caramel and oak.

Interested?

You can check out their “where to buy” link or plan a visit. 

Their Marketing Manager, Christian Kern, says they have big plans for the coming year. These include a single barrel program and live music at the distillery this summer. 2022 will also bring two small-batch experimental bourbons, called Bloody Butcher’s Creed. Look for them this fall and spring. Another new offering will be their Red, White, and Blue Corn Bourbon scheduled for Veteran’s Day 2022.

Jeptha Creed is an up-and-coming distillery worth keeping an eye on. Who knows where more happy accidents may lead them?

Have you tried a Jeptha Creed spirit? If so, we would love to hear from you. Drop us a note in the comments.