Mythology Distillery

In a rackhouse built over an underground stream in the Colorado Rockies, barrels of bourbon age at 6,700 feet while sound waves coax alcohol deeper into the wood through the long mountain winters. Mythology Distillery has built its reputation on that kind of restless experimentation, blending sourced whiskey into distinctive expressions rather than simply bottling it as found.

History & Heritage

Mythology Distillery was founded in 2018 by Scott Yeates, Scott Burg, and Mike Zakhem, opening its doors in Denver's Lower Highlands neighborhood. Scott Yeates serves as Founder and President. In July 2023, the distillery relocated all production operations and its headquarters to a new campus in Steamboat Springs, Colorado, at 2875 Elk River Road, completing a multi-year transition from its Denver origins to the mountain town it now calls home. The Steamboat Springs campus opened to the public in 2024 with a cocktail bar, a restaurant, and an outdoor whiskey garden called The Confluence. Mythology has also expanded its retail footprint with a tasting room in Breckenridge, Colorado, housed in a historic barn, where guests can join guided tastings and buy expressions to take home.

The Whiskey

Mythology distills its own gin and vodka on-site, using both pot stills and continuous column stills, with a triple charcoal filtering process that captures only the "hearts" of each run. Its rye vodka is made from a mash bill of 90 percent non-GMO, Colorado-grown rye and 10 percent barley. For whiskey, Mythology operates primarily as a blender rather than a ground-up distiller, sourcing bourbon and rye mainly from Kentucky, Indiana, and MGP of Indiana, then rigorously testing combinations to build a house flavor profile before finishing and bottling under its own label. Mythology Best Friend Bourbon exemplifies the approach: a blend of a 15-year aged Kentucky bourbon and two high-rye bourbons aged four to six years. Cask Strength Best Friend Bourbon carries the same award-winning blend to barrel proof. Hell Bear American Whiskey combines bourbon and rye whiskeys into a single distinctive pour, and Thunderhoof Rye Whiskey has earned gold-medal recognition in its own right. The distillery ages its barrels in a rackhouse with earthen floors set above an underground stream, a design meant to moderate the aggressive temperature swings of high-altitude aging. Mythology has also piloted a sound wave technique intended to increase barrel-alcohol interaction during the coldest months, an unusual technical bet on accelerating maturation without sacrificing character. Spent grain and mash from production are regularly given to local ranches as feed, tying the operation into its Steamboat Springs community.

Why It Matters

Mythology has assembled more than 60 national and international awards, including Gold, Double Gold, and Best in Class medals, since its 2018 founding. ColoradoBiz named it the state's top distillery in 2024, and Westword recognized it as Denver's Best Colorado Distillery in 2019, back when its home base was still the Lower Highlands. Locally, Steamboat Springs readers voted Mythology the First Place pick for "Best Craft Cocktails" and for "Best Place to Take an Out-of-Town Guest" in the 2024 Best of the Boat awards, a reader-voted program run by the Steamboat Pilot. That combination of national spirits-competition credibility and hometown loyalty is unusual for a distillery still working through its first decade, and it reflects a deliberate strategy: build a whiskey blending program serious enough to win Double Gold and Gold medals at competitions like the San Francisco World Spirits Competition, while running a hospitality operation warm enough that locals send their visiting family there first.

Visiting the Distillery

The Steamboat Springs campus offers several guided experiences, including a 1-hour Mythology Distillery Tour starting at $25, a 1.5-hour "Mixology with Mythology" cocktail class starting at $65, a 1-hour "The Distiller's Path" tour led by the Head Distiller starting at $50, and a 1-hour "Rackhouse Reserve Experience" for tasting whiskey straight from the barrel starting at $75. The property is family- and dog-friendly. A separate tasting room in Breckenridge, Colorado offers guided tastings and retail sales without the full production-campus experience.