Jeptha Creed Bottled in Bond Bourbon Review [In Depth]
Jeptha Creed Bottled in Bond Bourbon
by: ALEX WANG
Founder, writer
Founder, writer
Jeptha Creed Bottled in Bond Bourbon Details
Distillery: Jeptha Creed
Type & Region: Bourbon, Kentucky, USA
Alcohol: 50%
Composition: 75% Bloody Butcher Corn, 20% malted rye, 5% malted barley
Aged: At least 4 years
Color: 1.3/2.0 on the color scale (russet, muscat)
Price: $50
From the company website:
Our Jeptha Creed Bottled In Bond Straight Rye Bourbon made with our Bloody Butcher Corn, the finest malted rye and malted barley.
Jeptha Creed Bottled in Bond Bourbon overview
Jeptha Creed is one of many new kids on the block in the Kentucky bourbon scene, located in Shelby County, Kentucky, between Lexington and Louisville. And just like the big distilleries, and a growing number of craft distilleries, they’re distilling everything themselves. Unlike the big distilleries or even some of the medium-size craft distilleries, Jeptha Creed is still a small operation, producing give or take “nine barrels of bourbon per day” as stated by their website. This is a really small operation
Depending on what you define as founded, Jeptha Creed was founded somewhere around 2010-2014, when they were getting everything set up to start a distillery. You could even make the case that they started even earlier, as they were growing their own grains knowing that they wanted to start a distillery.
But what separates them from the pack is their emphasis on using heirloom corn. It’s not reserved for limited releases, it’s a part of every bourbon they make. This Jeptha Creed Bottled in Bourbon is made with 75% Bloody Butcher Red Corn, which is a lot.
The very high percentage of red corn, malted rye, and malted barley is unique. The fact that they grow their own Bloody butcher corn (aka red corn) is no small feat. It’s lower yield per acre than the usual yellow corn, which makes it more expensive to grow. That’s serious commitment to the craft, and the goal is to make unique and memorable whiskeys from it. If you want to learn more about their corn and their journey to make their bourbon, Jeptha Creed’s website provides more interesting details on that too.
For background just in case you didn’t already know this – bottled in bond is an important term with a lot of meaning, and was initially created as a way to guarantee a certain level of quality and safety in a time when there was a lot of funny business.
Here’s most of what it entails
- Distilled in one season in one year (cannot blend barrels from different years or seasons, so you don’t get blends of 4 year and 15 year bourbon)
- Same master distiller
- 100 proof
- At least 4 years old
- Aged in a government bonded warehouse
- No additives or funny business
Let’s find out how this unique bourbon drinks in Jeptha Creed Bottled in Bond Bourbon review.
Thank you to Jeptha Creed for providing this bottle. All opinions are still my own.
As an FYI, I bought and use these Glencairn glasses for everything (they’re the best): Glencairn Crystal Whiskey Glass Set of 6, Set of 4, Set of 2, or just one. Full transparency, this is an affiliate link, so I may earn a commission if you buy this or something else from Amazon.
Jeptha Creed Bottled in Bond Bourbon smell
At first I smell very musty honey, orange peel, raw potatoes, roasted corn, oak, cinnamon, licorice, dirt, dried apricot, and a weird metallic thing. Jeptha Creed Bottled in Bond Bourbon is way too musty up front. It’s like a mix of sweet dust and raw potatoes, and then that very metallic thing in the back.
No, this is not good. There is some sweetness and fruitiness that’s probably good under the surface, but it is just awash in weird mustiness.
After swirling and rest, I get overpowering dustiness (but not in the old bourbon kind of way that’s good) and mustiness with honey, orange peel, raw potatoes, dried apricot, licorice, roasted oak, earthy caraway seed, and raw corn.
It’s so musty to the point that I can’t get past it to enjoy everything else. This could probably be pretty good if I could even get there, but I can’t. There’s good stuff hiding underneath the insurmountably thick cloud of dust and must.
Jeptha Creed Bottled in Bond Bourbon taste and aftertaste
Jeptha Creed Bottled in Bond starts with pleasant enough honey, but then immediately gives way to heavy mustiness as if no one’s been in a house for 50 years, then orange peel, vanilla, roasted oak, caraway seed, licorice, roasted grains, dry oak, and more earthiness. Oh boy, that weird mustiness is still there and I can’t get over it. This is way too musty, dry, and earthy…I do not like this.
With “chewing”, I get musty honey, vanilla, orange peel, roasted oak, caraway seed, cinnamon, and raw corn and grains. Jeptha Creed Bottled in Bond Bourbon is so musty and weird, and then comes an overdone dry earthiness. I do not enjoy this at all.
Unfortunately, the extra agitation just brings out even more musty and dusty character. At least the heat is controlled, so that’s something right?
The finish leaves musty and dusty honey, dry oak, and caraway seed. It’s just more of the same, and it’s not great.
Jeptha Creed Bottled in Bond has some nice sweetness and fruitiness underneath, but the weirdness holds it back from being enjoyable. It’s like they took their Four Grain Bourbon, which is really nice, and then ruined it. This is tough to drink, and I don’t like writing it or experiencing it.
I’ve unfortunately lost some Glencairn’s while in transit, and that made me very sad. So, I wised up and bought this Glencairn Travel Case that comes also comes with 2 glasses so I don’t need to worry so much about them breaking. I think it’s great, and I think you’ll love it too.
Seriously, if you already have glasses, protect them.
Jeptha Creed Bottled in Bond Bourbon Rating
I know that Jeptha Creed makes great bourbons, but…oh no…Jeptha Creed Bottled in Bond Bourbon is really bad. It’s a mess and tough to drink. It’s not a hot mess because the heat is actually fine, but it’s a musty and dusty mess that I’ve never experienced before. Who thought that this was a good idea to release? It is entirely possible that this bottle has gone bad.
I don’t know what happened, but I’ve never had such a musty and dusty bourbon in my entire life. It blows my mind, but not in a good way. I’m not going to spend the whole conclusion bashing this bourbon, because there is some underlying good here. There is a pleasant honey, cherry, apricot, and orange foundation, it’s just buried behind the other unpleasant stuff.
The thing is, not every bourbon they make is like that. Jeptha Creek Four Grain Bourbon and Red White and Blue “Top Shelf” bourbon in my opinion, and that is the reason why I still have a positive impression of Jeptha Creed. I thought my senses were going haywire because the mustiness had to be all in my head.
To double check, I drank some of their Four Grain Bourbon after doing this review and was welcomed with a drastically better and pleasant experience with more sweet, more fruitiness, and no mustiness. The Bottled in Bond Bourbon is just…flat out bad and hard to drink. What went wrong?
Jeptha Creed, it’s time to go back to the drawing board with your Bottled in Bond Rye Bourbon. Please seriously consider pulling this from shelves because this is the type of bourbon that makes people swear you off for years to come. A product this bad is enough to single handedly hamstring your company and push away a lot of potential fans. Take the hit now and build for a stronger future. You make really good bourbon and you need to showcase that, not this disaster.
To my readers – avoid this bottle at all costs. If you want a Jeptha Creed Bourbon, please go get Jeptha Creed Four Grain Bourbon or Red White and Blue instead because they’re actually quite good. Just like many other distilleries, Jeptha Creed has some hits and some misses, but oh boy they completely whiffed on this one and face planted.
Meet the Author: Alex
I have far too much fun writing about whiskey and singlehandedly running The Whiskey Shelf to bring you independent, honest, and useful reviews, comparisons, and more. I’m proudly Asian American and can speak Cantonese, Mandarin, and some Japanese.
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Shattered glass really sucks, so if you’re on the move, this Glencairn-like stainless steel snifter glass should survive your travels. Full transparency, this is an Amazon affiliate link, so I may earn a commission if you buy this or something else from Amazon.
BrüMate NOS’R, Double-Wall Stainless Steel Whiskey Nosing Glass – 7oz (Matte Black)
