Jim Rutledge Shares the Saga of Cream of Kentucky Bottled-in-Bond Rye Whiskey

High Plains Rye photo courtesy JW Rutledge

Spirits industry veteran Jim Rutledge retired in 2015 after 49 years with Seagram’s and later Four Roses, where he spent the last two decades as Master Distiller. But retirement didn’t last long, and he began quietly distilling again, working on contract with startup brands, and eventually brought two new products to market - High Plains Rye Whiskey and Cream of Kentucky. The latter is an historic brand that had disappeared from the landscape in the years when Bourbon fell out of favor with consumers. There have been five releases of Cream of Kentucky Bourbon so far, and now it’s time for the brand to enter uncharted territory with a bottled-in-bond rye whiskey.

Cream of Kentucky Background

“Schenley purchased the brand after the repeal of Prohibition and they introduced it in the mid-1930s, and it was very popular,” recalls Rutledge on a recent phone call. “The advertising was great, especially with Norman Rockwell, who was very famous back in those days, and I think it died away when Schenley went out of business. I don't know how or why it hadn't been purchased by someone, but Stephen Camisa and Jon Mowry had purchased it just for future potential, and so we decided to use that when we introduced the first bourbon, which is Cream of Kentucky, and we've had five releases now.”

Jim Rutledge photo credit Maggie Kimberl

A Scotch Whiskey Rye

The group decided to use a Scotch whisky approach in creating High Plains Rye, which ended up being a blend of rye whiskeys from four states. After the successful launch of High Plains Rye, it was time to turn their attention back to Cream of Kentucky.

“It's so difficult to find bourbon now,” says Rutledge. “It's nearly impossible, and that's why so many distilleries are just booked for years out distilling for others, because it's hard to find. At the large distilleries, the demand is still greater than the supply. Cream of Kentucky Bourbon had done very well, but we couldn't find another bourbon. We finally found a four-year-old that was really good, and we were hoping to purchase it, and by the time it was five or six years old, it would have been an excellent bourbon. It was actually some bourbon from when I was a consulting distiller at Castle & Key. But before we could get the money together it was sold.”

Because Cream of Kentucky was a historic Kentucky name, and because Kentucky was right there in the name, the partners agreed it should always be made with Kentucky whiskey. But when Kentucky bourbon became scarce on the open market, the group turned their attention to another popular Kentucky whiskey: rye.

“We liked the whiskey from Kentucky Artisan so much we bought the entire inventory,” Rutledge says. “After the High Plains, we had 80 barrels left. We saved 10 for another blend down the road of the High Plains. So we have 70 barrels, and that's it for Cream of Kentucky.

Cream of KY Bottled in Bond Rye photo credit JW Rutledge

Bottled in Bond

Interestingly, rye whiskey was something Rutledge had always wanted to do in his previous career but had never had the opportunity. He’d also never released a bottled-in-bond whiskey before this release.

“Steve Thompson had contracted with a local farmer in Oldham County to grow his grains for him,” says Rutledge. “It's estate grown Rymin rye grain, and we decided to release it as bottled-in-bond. Originally companies bottled in bond, because at the time of bottling, that's when taxes are assessed and paid. When a bottle comes off the end of the bottling line, taxes are accrued and paid every month, and bottled in bond saved companies money by delaying that payment of taxes. There were rules about it, like the hundred-proof. But it was a mainly a delay because the taxes weren't paid until the cases were actually shipped. So I don't know what consumers think about Bottled-in-Bond, other than it's special, it's bottled at 100 proof and under special supervision.”

Historically, Cream of Kentucky likely did not ever release a rye whiskey, says Rutledge.

“Schenley may have had rye, but it wouldn't have been under the Cream of Kentucky name, as far as I know. Back in the 1930s, 40s, and 50s, rye was basically used as a flavoring component. Back in all those years, the top shelf brands were the blended whiskeys, and the bottom-shelf really was the bourbons and the straight whiskeys. The rye that was being produced, distilled, and barreled was being put away as flavoring components for their blended whiskeys. By definition, an American blended whiskey had to have 20% minimum straight whiskey. It could be straight bourbon, straight rye, straight barley, straight corn, any cereal grain, it had to be 20% straight whiskeys. Theoretically a cheap, inexpensive blended whiskey could have 80% grain neutral spirit, or vodka. The better whiskeys were 100% whiskeys. That was how rye whiskeys were basically used back in those years. So I doubt that Schenley ever had a straight rye whiskey.”

Regardless of the history, consumers want to know whether this is a good whiskey or not. Rutledge used to tell his sales staff if they sold one bottle, that was the marketing and sales, but if they sold that second, third, or fourth bottle, that was because of what was inside the bottle.

Cream of Kentucky Bottled-in-Bond Rye Whiskey Tasting Notes

So what does the new Cream of Kentucky Bottled-in-Bond Rye Whiskey taste like? “The first thing I noticed about it, I guess, was the mellowness, the mouthfeel,” Rutledge says. “It has some burn on the back of the throat when swallowed but it's mellow. It does have a nice finish, that's the first thing.”

“But first smelling it, the top flavors on the top of a tasting glass, the lighter flavors like cinnamon, spearmint, a light, fruity, almost a grape or plum or light fruity flavor like that, then black pepper, that was probably one of the dominant flavors” He adds, “There’s a very light hint of cayenne pepper and on the palate. The black pepper, to me, dominates it. There's cinnamon and anise on the palate. And then in the finish, one of the things I always look for is something with a very mellow, long finish, where you can feel it all the way down, but no burn, just very mellow. This has, I'd say, a medium finish, it's a nice finish on it, and there's allspice on the palate and the finish, the black pepper, a raisin or grape, so it's got a lot of flavor.”

Writer's note: Since researching this story several months ago, I learned just this week that Cream of Kentucky may have had a rye whiskey at one time. As an interesting turn of events, Bourbon Historian Michael Veach helped to pick the Red Hook Rye that recently sold at auction for $43k and recalls it was purchased by the Willett Distillery from United Distillers and was earmarked for the Cream of Kentucky brand before the barrels were sold on the open market.