Joyce Nethery

“An original Making Old Fashioned New”

Joyce Nethery is the co-founder, co-owner, and master distiller for the Jeptha Creed Distillery located in Shelbyville, Kentucky.  Joyce has a love and background for chemical engineering, holding a Master’s Degree from the University of Louisville’s Speed Scientific School.  For many years after graduating, she worked in industrial distillation until she wanted a more family-friendly schedule with her kids and began teaching chemistry and physics at Shelby County High School.  After six years in the classroom, she left to support her husband, Bruce, with his privately owned businesses, where she worked as his chief financial officer.

Bruce had a dream to open a distillery, which at first Joyce believed was a crazy idea. Nevertheless, showing her support, she encouraged Bruce to attend Moonshine University, where he could obtain the knowledge needed to distill spirits. When obligations wouldn’t allow him to go, Joyce took his place, and her passion for engineering was renewed. She soon fell in love with copper and with distilling, especially bourbon.  It was there she also developed a ground-to-glass philosophy; Bruce’s agricultural expertise allowed the couple to grow their own heirloom varietal corn, while Joyce’s engineering guided the distillillation process, and Autumn’s sales and marketing could get the products distributed and out the door.  So, in 2016, the Nethery’s started the family-owned and operated Jeptha Creed Distillery. Looking back, Joyce now admits that Bruce was right!

Joyce indicates that she always wants to honor those of the past.  The “Jeptha” in the Jeptha Creed distillery name is based on the location of their current Shelby County farm that is in an area called the Jeptha Knobs, which was named by Daniel Boone during the exploration of Kentucky in the late 1700s.  This area had a natural salt lick that attracted wildlife such as buffalo, deer, and turkey.  The Boones themselves named the area ’Jeptha’ after a biblical warrior found in the book of Judges, Chapter 11.  Creed is for their promise to honor those values as the distillery grows.

To further honor the rich heritage of the Nethery family ancestors (who came to America in 1715), the distillery displays the Tree of Life on their bottles. Joyce explains the roots of the tree at the bottom bind us to the past, the label area is the trunk of the tree representing the present, and the top has the branches reaching to the cork of the bottle or the future.  Joyce also explains that due to Autumn’s age, she went to Heriot-Watt University in Edinburgh, Scotland, to study distilling.  While there she located the Nethery crest with the motto “ne oublie,” which is translated ‘Do Not Forget’.  Therefore, Jeptha Creed has “ne oublie” located on the bottom of the bottle, setting the foundation for the roots of the distillery and the bottle’s tree of life.

Joyce shares the same objectives and long-term vision as distillery co-owner and daughter Autumn, which makes distillery operation easier.  She says the objective is to produce a bourbon that stands out and is not confused for any other product. They currently utilize bloody butcher heirloom corn, but are continuously trying new varieties such as blue, hickory king, tucker’s white, heirloom and others..

Joyce has been influenced by the generation of distillers who truly saved the bourbon industry and brought it out of the bourbon depression, noting in particular the Samuels of Makers Mark and others like Brown-Forman.  Knowing what these pioneers did to improve the bourbon industry as a whiole truly inspires Joyce Nethery to be original.

Contributed by: Dustin Bowman, Frankfort, Kentucky