Jeptha Creed Honors Veterans by Building a Giant American Flag—Made Entirely from Bourbon Barrels

In honor of Flag Day on June 14th, Kentucky’s Jeptha Creed Distillery celebrated by unveiling a giant American flag, measuring 12 feet by 7 feet, made from bourbon barrels at its Shelbyville campus. The project represents the journey of some very special barrels that date back to the distillery’s inception.

Jeptha Creed’s grand opening took place on November 11, 2016—coinciding with Veteran’s Day. Distillery staff celebrated both events by inviting members of the military—active and retired—to sign barrels that were being used to age a very special whiskey. The whiskey was christened Red White and Blue Kentucky straight bourbon. Although the name does intentionally correspond to the colors of the American flag, it’s a double entendre that also refers to the whiskey’s mashbill—representing the Bloody Butcher (red), Heirloom White, and Bruce’s Blue corn strains that were used to make it. The first batch was released at the distillery last year on Veteran’s Day, with a portion of sales donated to a local veterans’ aid organization.

Jeptha then decided to use the empty barrels to further honor the veterans who signed them. The distiller commissioned the giant American flag to be made out of its signed barrels. To carry this out, it enlisted the help of Cruise Custom Flags, a Shepherdsville-based company that specializes in repurposing old bourbon barrels into wooden flags. That company is owned by Chris Cruise, a retired U.S. Army paratrooper who signed a barrel of Jeptha’s Red White and Blue Bourbon back in 2017. The flag now hangs on display in the distillery’s visitor center following Wednesday’s event, along with challenge coins given to the distillery by visiting military personnel. In addition to helping construct the giant flag on display, Cruise also assembled smaller “Lieutenant Flags” that were made available for purchase, in limited quantities, from the distillery’s gift shop for $110.

“To us this flag represents the 10 years of heart, soul, and love that’s gone into building Jeptha Creed, and the appreciation we have for the freedom we possess to pursue our passions,” said the distillery’s co-owner and master distiller Joyce Nethery. “We wanted to do something special for our veteran community.”

Batch 2 of Jeptha Creed’s Red White and Blue bourbon is set to release this coming November, and those barrels have also been also signed by veterans. The distillery plans to keep the barrel-signing program active for the foreseeable future, but does not have any current plans to add another giant flag to its collection.