Tasting notes

nose

hot cinnamon rolls, brown sugar and a hint of cedar

palate

full-bodied, with bright citrus, sorghum syrup sweetness and cardamom

finish

tart cranberry and pink peppercorn that tingle, then a long fade of cinnamon and butter toffee

Mash bill

90% Bloody Butcher corn, 5% malted rye, 5% malted barley. That is 15 points more corn than the distillery's regular high-rye recipe, leaving only a small share of malted rye for spice so the red heirloom dent corn grown on the Nethery farms carries most of the flavor.

Why it's craft

This is batch 8 of Jeptha Creed's Distiller's Select line, small experimental releases sold only at the distillery, and it pushes the house's Bloody Butcher corn to 90% of the mash. The Nethery family grows that corn on its own farms and plants, ferments, distills and bottles on site in Shelbyville; the label is signed by the family.