Jeptha Creed Red White and Blue Bourbon review [In Depth]
Jeptha Creed Red White and Blue Bourbon
by: ALEX WANG
Founder, writer
Founder, writer
Jeptha Creed Red White and Blue Bourbon Details
Distillery: Jeptha Creed
Type & Region: Bourbon, Kentucky, USA
Alcohol: 50%
Composition: 25% Bloody Butcher Corn, 25% Heirloom White Corn, 25% Bruce’s Blue Corn, 20% Malted Rye, 5% Malted Barley
Aged: At least 4 years
Color: 1.4/2.0 on the color scale (tawny)
Price: $70-75
Link to the company website
Jeptha Creed Red White and Blue 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.
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.
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. I think Maker’s Mark even in the 90’s was at ~30 barrels a day.
For Jeptha Creed Red White and Blue batch 2, 32 barrels filled in 2018 and 2019 (aka multiple days of distillation) were used to create this blend.
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.
Jeptha Creed Red White and Blue, apart from being a reference to the American flag, is a reference to the mashbill: made from 25% Bloody Butcher Corn (red), 25% Heirloom White Corn (white), 25% Bruce’s Blue Corn (blue), 20% Malted Rye, 5% Malted Barley. To further lean into that, sales of this bottle are donated to veteran-focused organizations. For batch 2, which this is, proceeds were / are donated to USA Cares.
Using 3 types of heirloom corn is a bold move…and an expensive one. Those corns are far from cheap, and I personally still haven’t figured out how red, white, and blue corn make bourbon taste different than your standard yellow corn. It’s just not easy to compare a red corn vs yellow corn version of any bourbon. Nonetheless, I’m down for experimentation and pushing the boundaries of bourbon.
Another fun fact, they grow their own Bloody butcher corn (aka red corn), which 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. 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.
Let’s find out if the wide variety of corn and contribution to a good cause make this a worthwhile bourbon to drink in this Jeptha Creed Red White and Blue bourbon review.
Thank you to Jeptha Creed for providing this bottle. All opinion are 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 Red White and Blue Bourbon smell
The scents start with dark honey, heavily baked red apple, cinnamon, orange peel, stewed cherry, roasted oak, earthy caraway seed, fennel, and a hint of chalkiness and fresh corn. Jeptha Creed Red White and Blue is fairly sweet and fruity up with pleasant stewed fruitiness that feels quite mature. It’s 4 years old but could pass for much older.
While it doesn’t have much depth or layers, there’s already a lot for me to enjoy. This type of stewed fruitiness often doesn’t appear in bourbons twice as old.
After swirling I smell dense honey, baked red apple, stewed cherries, and orange peel, followed by roasted oak, caraway seed, vanilla, cinnamon, coffee grounds, maple syrup, and a little chalkiness and graininess. Jeptha Creed Red White and Blue continues to display maturity beyond its years, with really nice sweetness and fruitiness while controlling the oakiness and earthiness.
It’s just missing that next level of complexity and expressiveness. What I mean is that all the scents are there, but they could use more back and forth + and pop to impress me. It is by no means thin, but those are the things I’m looking for from an outstanding bourbon.
Nonetheless, Jeptha Creed Red White and Blue smells like a well made 8-10 year old bourbon and it already outdoes a lot of bourbons made by the big Kentucky distilleries.
Jeptha Creed Red White and Blue Bourbon taste and aftertaste
The flavors start with honey, orange peel, red apple chips, roasted oak, caraway seed, cinnamon, cherry, sweet corn, lime, and a hint of ginger, graininess, and chalkiness with well controlled heat. Jeptha Creed Red White and Blue thankfully avoids the overpoweringly unpleasant mustiness and earthiness of their Bottled in Bond bourbon. Instead, it has well balanced sweetness, fruitiness, oakiness, spiciness, and earthiness with accents of and chalkiness.
The chalkiness and graininess, which I also get in their other expressions, are still there. I don’t love it, but I can get over it given what else there is to taste. I honestly hope that it does disappear with more aging. Regardless, I enjoy this a lot so far.
“Chewing” gives me denser and bolder honey, baked red apple, orange peel, and stewed cherries, followed by roasted oak, caraway seed, cinnamon, vanilla, roasted coffee, and some chalkiness and graininess. Yes, this is what I was hoping to get. The extra push brings out the oomph and character that I want.
The finish starts with honey, orange peel, baked red apple, caraway seed, roasted oak, cinnamon, and ginger. After “chewing”, it leaves honey, baked red apple, orange peel, roasted oak, caraway seed, and cinnamon.
The flavors have a really nice rush of sweetness and apple, orange, and cherry fruitiness that pop and immediately get my attention. It transforms the experience, and I’m impressed. You know what, Jeptha Creed Red White and Blue is great.
I still have some minor nitpicks, primarily with the chalkiness and graininess, but that withstanding, this is so good and mature beyond its years.
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 Red White and Blue Bourbon Rating
Jeptha Creed Red White and Blue is a pleasant surprise, and I always like that sort of thing. Also…I’d rather be pleasantly surprised than unpleasantly disappointed…which does happen. At the end of the day, this is a 4ish year old bourbon drinks way older than it is, and often outdoes many of the other bourbons coming out of Kentucky. It highlights the great work that Jeptha Creed is doing and how they’re going to make their mark on Kentucky bourbon.
As I did this review, this was at a strong “Mid Shelf+” rating for most of it. The scents were great throughout, but “chewing” changed the game when I got the burst of sweetness, and apple, orange, and cherry fruitiness that got my attention. I nodded my head as I drank it, and that was enough of a sign for me that it got over the hump. Flavors matter the most to me, and this delivered when it needed to.
Fruity whiskeys tend to do well with me, and this somehow crams a lot of it into its 4 year old frame. The grains must have a big part in all of this, because few others are eking out this much maturity and personality at this age. Still Austin might be the rare other distillery doing similarly great work. I don’t think that everyone will agree with this rating, but drinking it reveals the darndest things.
The main thing holding this back from even further greatness is the light chalkiness that I think will turn off some drinkers. All the Jeptha Creed bourbons I’ve had (3 up till now) have it to some degree. It’s not a big deal in the grand scheme of things, but others might be more sensitive to it than I am. I think it’ll go a long way for it to be aged-out sooner than later.
Coming from my experience, I highly recommend Jeptha Creed Red White and Blue.
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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