New Releases: Blood Oath is Back, Jeptha Creed Launches a Wheated Bourbon, and More

Bourbons head up this latest crop of new releases, with Lux Row dropping its annual edition of Blood Oath, marking 10 years for the series. Shelbyville, Kentucky-based farm distiller Jeptha Creed, owned and operated by the dynamic mother-and-daughter team of Joyce and Autumn Nethery, has a new wheated bourbon in its repertoire, with a mashbill based on Jeptha’s signature Bloody Butcher corn.

Smaller releases follow, including two new bourbons from Bardstown, Kentucky-based independent bottler Vincero Spirits, available in Kentucky only. Portland, Oregon-based Westward Distillery has a new club release, and ultra-aged whisky purveyor The Last Drop has two scotches, ages 40 and 55, released in tiny quantities and at four-figure prices.

Blood Oath Pact 10 Kentucky Straight Bourbon

ABV: 49.3%
SRP: $130
Availability: 51,000 bottles; available nationwide in late April

Bardstown, Kentucky-based Lux Row Distillers has released the latest annual edition of its Blood Oath bourbon label, Blood Oath Pact 10, the 10th release in the Blood Oath series. As always, it's a blend of bourbons bottled at 49.3%. After blending, this particular whiskey was finished in cabernet franc barrels and then transferred into merlot casks for an undisclosed period.

The first edition of Blood Oath was launched in 2015. Cask finishing is a signature feature of Blood Oath, and was first employed with the second release in 2016, which included a port cask-finished rye in its blend. This latest batch marks the first time we’ve seen a double cask finish for the collection. Master distiller John Rempe did that to mark the milestone of the 10^th release. Though age statements are sometimes disclosed, there isn't one this time around.

Blood Oath’s hallmark is secrecy—details are always scarce, which is done to enhance the collection’s mystique. In the course of its history, Blood Oath has gained a solid following of devotees who seek it out each year, and procuring a bottle is usually a challenge.

Lux Row is owned by Indiana-based MGP, which acquired it in 2021. But Blood Oath and Lux Row operate separately, and Blood Oath is a Kentucky bourbon and very likely always will be. Blood Oath has been getting its liquid from neighboring distilleries, but Lux Row Distillery has been up and running since 2018 and will ultimately supply Blood Oath in addition to Lux Row's other whiskeys, which include Ezra Brooks, Rebel, and Daviess County. Lux Row also has part-ownership of Limestone Branch, whose whiskey brands are Yellowstone and Minor Case.

Jeptha Creed 6 year old Wheated Bourbon

ABV: 46.5%
SRP: $60
Availability: Available in retailers across 9 states and at the distillery

Heirloom grains are often a highlight of Shelbyville, Kentucky-based Jeptha Creed Distillery’s releases. Jeptha Creed, which launched in 2016, sits on a 64-acre property with fields that grow heirloom grains—including Bloody Butcher red corn, a strain that features prominently in its mashbills. This latest expression matches Bloody Butcher corn with wheat.

Jeptha Creed started experimenting with the concept of a wheated bourbon made from Bloody Butcher corn from its earliest days. That whiskey took time to develop, but it’s finally here. It was distilled using a mashbill of 75% Bloody Butcher, 20% malted wheat, and 5% malted barley, and was aged for 6 years prior to bottling. This isn’t the first time we’ve seen Jeptha use wheat in a Bloody Butcher mashbill—it also offers a four-grain bourbon made with both grains, though that one has half the wheat content of this one and includes rye as well as barley.

The Bloody Butcher strain has been around since the early 1800s, but recently it’s won popularity with smaller distillers. Other brands that have used it include New Liberty, Widow Jane, Whiskey Acres, Judson & Moore, and Starlight Distillery—all of whom tout its sweet and slightly nutty profile.

The Bond

ABV: 50%
SRP: TBA
Availability: Kentucky

The Bond Eternal

ABV: 50%
SRP: TBA
Availability: Kentucky

Vincero Spirits, an independent bottler based in Bardstown, Kentucky owned by spirits wholesaler Brown Water Bourbon Xchange, is introducing two new bourbons. The Bond is a 4 year old Indiana bourbon made from a mashbill of 75% corn, 21% rye, and 4% malted barley; The Bond Eternal is a 7 year old Indiana bourbon with a mashbill of 60% corn, 36% rye, and 4% malted barley. Both are bottled at 50% ABV and are differentiated by a blue label for The Bond and a black label The Bond Eternal.

Both bourbons are bottled in bond and non-chill filtered, and every batch is hand-bottled and hand-labeled. These first two Bond whiskeys are Kentucky exclusives, available in restaurants, bars, and retailers across the state.

Westward Vintner’s Cuvée American Single Malt

ABV: 48%
SRP: $100
Availability: Westward Whiskey Club exclusive

Portland, Oregon-based Westward Whiskey has unveiled the latest exclusive bottling for its whiskey club members. Dubbed Vintner’s Cuvée, this new expression represents a blend of American single malts aged in a mix of syrah, cabernet, tempranillo, and pinot noir casks sourced from Oregon’s Willamette Valley, Sonoma County in California, and Australia’s Margaret River.

This whiskey builds on Westward’s experience with wine casks. While the distillery typically ages its single malts in virgin light char oak, it routinely uses refill casks to finish them. One of Westward’s core offerings is finished in pinot noir casks, and the distillery has also utilized tempranillo, chardonnay, and sauternes casks to finish previous club-exclusive releases. But this release’s components are fully matured entirely in wine casks.

Vintner’s Cuvée will go on presale from May 3rd to May 14th. The Westward Whiskey Club has shipping to 35 states.

The Last Drop 40 year old Scotch Single Malt (Distilled at Auchentoshan)

ABV: 44.8%
SRP: $5,300
Availability: 74 bottles

The Last Drop 55 year old Scotch Single Malt (Distilled at Tomintoul)

ABV: 41.7%
SRP: $8,300
Availability: 582 bottles

The 2024 Collection from the Last Drop Distillers is comprised of three expressions. Release No. 34 is a 40 year old single malt scotch from Auchentoshan Distillery, a Lowland producer known for its soft, mellow drams, and currently the only one that triple distills its malts.

The second whisky in the 2024 Collection, Release No. 36, is a 55 year old single malt scotch from Tomintoul Distillery. This is The Last Drop’s oldest single malt release; the whisky spent 53 years in six oak casks, and was then married into an amoroso (cream sherry) butt for an additional 20 months. It was distilled in the 1960s, when Tomintoul, a Speyside distillery, was less than 5 years old.

For rum lovers out there, an infinitum rum blend—which combines various aged rums from many different distilleries—is also part of the 2024 Collection (Release No. 35), going for $3,100 a bottle.

London-based The Last Drop specializes in ultra-aged spirits, finding rare stocks of whisky, rum, cognac, and port and putting them in front of aficionados. A few years ago, the company took on blending duties as well, creating a 50 year old blended scotch with the help of renowned master blender Colin Scott.