Prominent wet sponge | Orange creamsicle | Dried kindle | Light mulling spices

Brown sugar | Charred oak | Baking spices | Leather | Thin vanilla | Light rye spice | Touch of grain | Nicely balanced

Brown sugar | Light cream | Rye spice | Dry oak | Leather

Located in Shelbyville, Kentucky, Jeptha Creed is a working farm and distillery owned by the Nethery family. The company holds true to the Scottish Gaelic phrase “Ne Oublie” (which means “never forget”) by making their founding motto “Don’t Forget Where You Came From.” The company talks about their commitment to this meaning throughout all of their branding, even going so far as incorporating an embossed Celtic Knot into their glass bottles.

According to the company, “In August of 2016, Jeptha Creed distilled and barreled the first legal barrel of bourbon Shelby County since before prohibition, and now we barrel nine barrels of bourbon each day.” The company originally released their first straight 4-grain bourbon in 2019, and has since expanded the lineup to three ongoing core bourbon expressions, along with various limited edition bourbons.

I always like it when a company puts out a bottled in bond bourbon, since it evens the playing field in the rules that have to be followed and can allow a more apples-to-apples comparison to other bottled in bond bourbons of a similar age and mashbill. Jeptha Creed Bottled in Bond Rye Heavy Bourbon delivers a well composed sip full of sweet notes that are nicely complemented with earthier ones along with hints of spice. This all comes with one major caveat though, the presence of a prominent long past its prime wet sponge note on the nose. It surprised me so much that at first I thought it might be the Glencairn I was using, however, after hand washing multiple glasses (no sponge used), and even trying it in an untraditional Yeti cup, the note was still prominent each time. I went so far as requesting a second bottle from the company as I was even under the assumption it just could have been a bad batch, however, the new bottle yielded the same results. If you can work past the wet sponge note, the rest of the sip is great. If Jeptha Creed can hone in the nose, this will be a well done bottled in bond bourbon. In the meantime, just be aware that you’ll first need to work past the wet sponge smell in order to enjoy the rest of the sip.