‘We’re The Bugatti of Bourbons’ Mystic Distillery Rides Wave of Handcrafted Bourbon’s Popularity

“Jaguar and BMW are for the masses. We are the Bugatti of bourbons,” said Durham lawyer turned distiller Jonathan Blitz, co-owner of Mystic Distillery. Its flagship brand, Broken Oak, has won a slew of gold and other prizes at the prestigious San Francisco World Spirits competition including 2023’s Best 5 Year Small Batch Bourbon.

Mystic operates on a 22-acre farm in rural Durham County, North Carolina. It produces an average of six barrels of Broken Oak and other high-end handcrafted bourbons a week. Bottles are sold at the distillery, where visitors are also offered tours. “During our two-hour tour, Jim Beam would have topped my annual production,” laughed Blitz.

If It Ain’t From Kentucky…

First things first. Bourbon connoisseurs sniff that true bourbon must come from Kentucky. “Not so,” said Blitz. “The whole Kentucky thing is just marketing.”

Bourbon must be at least 51% corn liquor with a maximum proof at distillation of 80% ABV. The grains comprising the other 49% are at the discretion of the distiller. Broken Oak adds 45% wheat to its bourbon mash bill. Some of Mystic’s bourbons include triticale in the mash bill, which is a rye/wheat hybrid that grows well in the Piedmont.

The first corn whiskies were distilled in North Carolina in 1682. “We have better conditions, water, and grains here,” said Blitz. Bourbon distilling moved to Kentucky when North Carolinians relocated there. A series of laws, including prohibition, sidelined legal distilling in the state from 1908 until 2005 when North Carolina got its first post-prohibition distillery.

Growing Demand for Bourbon

The bourbon industry has been growing at over 10% annually in recent years with $8.85 B forecast for 2025. In 2023, the number of craft distillers nationally grew by 11.5% to a total of 3,069.

Mystic’s top-of-the-line, Broken Oak, costs $200 a bottle. Prices of other NC craft bourbons like those produced by Weldon Mills and Olde Raleigh range from $50 to $100. By comparison, mass-market, high-end bourbons like Elijah Craig, Buffalo Trace, and Woodford Reserve are in the $50 to $80 range.