by Have you heard the unique name Jeptha Creed Distillery? Maybe not yet, but you’re going to want to remember the moniker of this craft distillery in Shelbyville, Kentucky. The family-owned distillery is doing several things in such unique ways while producing such interesting spirits, that it won’t be long before many more fans of bourbon (and other spirits) know the name.
More on that unique name in a minute. The nearly five–year old distillery is about a 30–minute drive from downtown Louisville, where it distills 8–9 barrels a day. Jeptha Creed, with its bar, restaurant, and retail space, has weathered the pandemic’s storm. They’ve maintained reduced hours, offering barrel tastings and smaller free tastings Thursday through Sunday. Currently, they are not offering public tours, but hope to resume them, along with music events on the patio, next spring.
Let’s look at how else the folks distilling the first legal bourbon in Shelby County since before Prohibition stand out from the crowd.
Unique attribute #1:
The place is owned and operated by one of the few mother-daughter leadership duos in distilled spirits. Mother Joyce Nethery, a chemical engineer, is the Master Distiller. Co-owner and daughter Autumn Nethery is the Sales and Marketing Director and a student of whiskey making, having studied at Heriot-Watt University in Edinburgh, Scotland. Her marketing skills came from some other UK studies (the University of Kentucky, not the United Kingdom.)
Unique Attribute #2:
Jeptha Creed products are made with an unusual red corn called Bloody Butcher Corn. It’s grown on 10 of the 64 acres that surround the distillery and also on the family farm. This heirloom corn is extremely difficult to grow, yields about one–third of what non–GMO yellow corn produces, and a quarter of it will be eaten by local wildlife. So, why use it as the exclusive corn in their products?
“It’s got this flavor profile that yellow corn just doesn’t have,” Autumn Nethery told me during a recent tour. “It’s got this buttery, nutty, fruity flavor that you just don’t get from yellow corn.” Nethery added, “Using different types of corn varietals in your bourbon is very similar to using different grape varietals in your wine. Different varietals of corn give you different flavor profiles in your bourbon.”
In case you’re questioning the family’s agricultural bona fides, they farm an additional 1200 acres throughout Shelby County. “We’re blessed to be able to do that because not all distilleries are able to be ‘farm to glass’. With our agriculture background and our family land, we’re able to grow all the corn that we need.”
Years ago, the Netherys grew just a small patch of Bloody Butcher Corn because it was a family favorite in cornbread. “We already knew it tasted good, we knew the wildlife loved it, and we thought, ‘Hey, it’s going to make good bourbon,” Nethery said. “And it does—we love the flavor profile that comes from it.”
Unique Attribute #2.5:
While regular yellow corn stalks grow to be about eight feet tall, Bloody Butcher Corn can grow from 12 to 20 feet tall. (And all of that only produces two ears of corn on average.)
“It’s so tall you can’t see the combine as it’s going through the field,” Nethery said, noting that you look for the corn stalks shaking to know where the combine is.
Unique Attribute #3:
Lots of distilleries have a cat. Jeptha Creed has 4 distillery cats. Sisters named Barley, Wheat, Rye, and Malt live in a chicken coop in the production facility by day and are supposed to be chasing mice at night. Joyce calls them the third shift. “Those are our four mousers…but only one of them (Barley) actually catches any mice,” Nethery said.
How did the sisters come to call Jeptha Creed home? “Six months after we opened (November 2016), we were trying to get grass to grow after construction,” Nethery said. “We picked up a bale of straw and these four kittens came tumbling out. They were orphaned. They were starving. If we hadn’t found them, they were very close to death.” The employees fell in love, took turns bottle feeding them, and before long Jeptha Creed became (presumably) the only distillery with a chicken coop full of cats.
Unique Attribute #4:
Now, just what does that unusual name mean?
“Our name comes from the Jeptha Knobs, which are these hills in Shelby County,” Nethery said. “That’s where I grew up, my dad grew up. My family’s been around that area for 70–80 years now.”
The Jeptha Knobs were named after a Biblical warrior by Daniel and Squire Boone. Jeptha Creek runs through the middle of their main farm property as well.
And the Creed part? Google tells me that a creed is a set of beliefs or aims which guide someone’s actions.
I looked at the Jeptha Creed website before my visit and it said: “For us, the Creed in Jeptha Creed is simple: we are a family who believes in creating more than just great spirits, great food, and a great time – we are creating an experience for our customers unlike any other.”
But it also went on to say “Ne Oublie” is a Scottish Gaelic saying meaning ‘Never Forget,’ a phrase that’s been passed down through the Nethery family for generations. Jeptha Creed was founded on the motto ‘Don’t Forget Where You Came From,’ and we hold true to that to this day.”
I asked Autumn to clarify for me which part was the actual creed.
“Both, it has multiple meanings,” she said. “It’s the creed that we’re building up a legacy here. It’s the creed of holding true to our values, which is the Ne Oublie, the “Do not forget” value, which has come up through the generations…and the creed is also our promise to tell our customers what’s going into the spirits they’re drinking. To be honest with them.”
A Family Affair
It turns out the two co-owners aren’t the only Nethery family members involved in the operation. On our tour, we ran into Hunter Nethery, Autumn’s brother, who is an Assistant Distiller. Their father Bruce, when not farming or running 10 other businesses, likes to create new expressions on the 30–gallon still from Hillbilly Stills. His latest is Bruce’s Blue, using blue heirloom corn.
Nethery said, “If we come up with something new, we want to play around with, or an idea for a new mashbill, we’ll run a smaller batch off the 30–gallon experimental still to see how it tastes and if we like it.”
In addition to the small still, the distillery equipment from Vendome Copper includes the following:
- 500–gallon hybrid pot still
- 12–inch diameter column still
- 250–gallon vodka still
- 1 1000–gallon cooker
- 4 1000–gallon fermenters
- 4 2000–gallon fermenters
Besides Jeptha Creed 4 Grain Bourbon, the distillery produces several other whiskeys, moonshine, vodka, and brandy. (See sidebar.) On its fifth anniversary in November, Jeptha Creed will release a Bottled–in–Bond Rye (which means it will be four years old and 100 proof.)
“We do have lot more experimental stuff aging as well as our new wheat mash bill. We want that to be at least 6 years old,” Nethery said. “And we’ve got our Red, White, and Blue Bourbon (using three different colors of corn) that we’re distilling and aging right now, coming out next year.”
What else does the future hold for Jeptha Creed Distillery? “We’re still going to keep growing,” Nethery said. “We’re in it for the long–haul. We’re interested in really building a legacy, so we want to do it right.”
Sounds like a creed worth following.
Other Products: Butcher’s Creed Whiskey (limited-edition expressions, experimental bourbons and whiskeys Vodka (Original, Honey, and Blueberry) Kentucky Moonshine (Cinnamon, Blackberry, and Apple Pie) Pawpaw Fruit Brandy Currently available in stores in Kentucky, Indiana Tennessee, Illinois, Missouri Available online in the U.S. www.seelbachs.com Available in the U.K. www.whiskeyexchange.com
