Jim Rutledge is one of bourbon’s great craftsmen. He worked for Seagrams for many years before becoming Master Distiller at Four Roses which was owned by Seagrams but sold to Kirin after Seagrams went bankrupt. For many years, Rutledge’s product was sold only overseas but when bourbon started making a comeback Four Roses was once again sold in the United States. Since his retirement in 2015 he has been working with Blue Run and with his own operation J.W. Rutledge Distillery which produces high end bourbon under the resurrected Cream of Kentucky brand and is planning future releases of whiskies under either the High Plains Rye or J.W. Rutledge brand name. I acquired this bottle from a buddy who was selling off his collection to pay for a surgery, but it was previously on the shelves at Hokus. Cream of Kentucky Batch 5 is 13 years old and is 102 proof.

Color on this is a nice amber but nothing particularly impressive. I don’t know where this bourbon was sourced, but it seems to have been aged on the ground floor. On the swirl is a nice film with some thick legs. The nose is very old school bourbon – caramel, vanilla, some dark fruit and floral notes. The palate is as old school as the nose – there is less caramel and more vanilla on the palate, with some candied cherries along with some wonderful oak. Very nice mouthfeel on this bourbon. On the finish, the candied cherries carry forth with baking spices and clove. The proof on this is just right – very flavorful yet very smooth.

This is a very solid low rye recipe bourbon. I compared Cream of Kentucky to the most recent Four Roses annual limited release, which contains Rutledge distillate. I am thinking he sourced some of his “own” bourbon for Cream of Kentucky, and has likely done the same for the older Blue Run releases. I have tried a number of Four Roses limited editions in recent years that by age had Rutledge distillate in it although blended by the current master distiller Brent Elliot. This is definitely similar. Jim is currently laying down new distillate for Blue Run at Castle & Key and possibly Bardstown Bourbon Company.

This is a very good bourbon, and given Jim Rutledge’s stature, this is clearly a bottle for bourbon nerds. The flavor profile indicates to me that this is how Jim Rutledge likes his bourbon that he drinks himself when he just wants to enjoy it rather than tasting product at work. It is a must for a collection of interesting bourbons (like mine) but I can’t say that I would pay secondary market prices for this at $400.

As to the future of Cream of Kentucky, the brand is now apparently owned by a guy named Stephen Camisa, who has worked for Sazerac (which had tried to trademark Cream of Kentucky at one point, after being abandoned by the Shenley company years ago), worked with Rutledge for a bit and maybe still is, and has apparently started his own Cream of Kentucky company last month according to his LinkedIn page. We will see what this long time whiskey executive comes up with, but given the interesting history of the trademark, this looks like Cream of Kentucky is his long time dream. Bourbon is an amazing whiskey and it enriches my life as something I enjoy drinking and writing about. I don’t make money from this blog as this is my hobby. But, my investigation of bourbon and its history does let me know that, like everything in my work life, bourbon is a business deal, in which you have to go long by years, and that is also utterly fascinating to me.