Next Century Spirits

# Next Century Spirits

Founded in 2018 in Zebulon, North Carolina, Next Century Spirits has grown from a startup craft producer into one of the more unusual forces in American whiskey: a full-service distilled spirits company that makes its own award-winning single malt and bourbon while also building, finishing, and bottling brands for a widening circle of celebrity and investor partners, including Seagram heir Matthew Bronfman and country music artist Kenny Chesney.

History & Heritage

Next Century Spirits was co-founded in 2018 by Scott Bolin and Joel Pawlak, who set out to build a distilling operation broad enough to serve craft, private-label, and bulk spirits markets at once, not just a single flagship brand. The company's primary production facility sits at 400 Vintage Park Drive in Zebulon, North Carolina, just east of Raleigh, with additional corporate offices in Fairfield, Connecticut. Growth accelerated in 2020 with a $6 million Series C funding round led by Blue Hill Group, bringing in Matthew Bronfman, an heir to the Seagram Company founders, who now serves as Executive Chairman of the Board. The company expanded its portfolio through acquisition rather than organic growth alone: it acquired XED Beverages, maker of the SESH and HAPE seltzer lines, in 2022, then closed a $1.9 million investment deal for its Bear Fight whiskey brand between Valedor Partners and Bronfman in 2023. In 2024, Next Century Spirits acquired a majority of Southwest Spirits & Wine's brand assets, including Nue Vodka, The Other 49 Bourbon, Sixty Men Bourbon, Calamity Gin, Henderson Whiskey, and George Ocean Rum. The most notable move came in March 2025, when the company acquired Blue Chair Bay Rum directly from Kenny Chesney, who in turn became one of Next Century Spirits' largest percentage owners. As of July 2026, the company is led day to day by Co-Chief Executive Officers Anthony Moniello and Rob Mason, with Bolin and Pawlak remaining involved as co-founders and Bronfman and Chesney holding significant ownership stakes alongside them.

The Whiskey

Next Century Spirits' whiskey program centers on the BEAR FIGHT line. BEAR FIGHT American Single Malt Whiskey, co-founded by Seth MacFarlane and now championed by actor Gabriel Macht, is described as bold and smoky, and it has been recognized as a genuine competitive standout: Double Gold and Best-in-Class honors at the New York International Spirits Competition in 2021, another Double Gold there in 2022, and Best in Category for a single malt under twelve years old at the World Whiskies Awards. BEAR FIGHT Kentucky Reserve Bourbon follows a mash bill of 70 percent corn, 21 percent rye, and 9 percent malted barley, and is finished in reposado tequila casks; some of the whiskey behind it is sourced from undisclosed distilleries before being finished in-house. A companion release, BEAR FIGHT Orchard & Vine, finishes bourbon in Calvados and Port barrels. Underpinning all of this is Next Century Spirits' patented Spiranova cask-finishing technology, which monitors temperature, humidity, alcohol content, and barrel toast and char level inside the cask, and which the company says can transform new-make white dog into a fully finished whiskey in under three hours, a radical compression of a process that traditionally takes years. The company also produces Creek Water American Whiskey, a collaboration with musician Yelawolf, and Numbskull, a cool mint and chocolate-flavored whiskey, alongside its non-whiskey lines: Nue Vodka, Calamity Gin, Pocho Fino Tequila (created with comedian Gabriel "Fluffy" Iglesias), Caddy Clubhouse Cocktails (developed with golfer Greg Norman), and the Caribbean-sourced Blue Chair Bay Rum.

Why It Matters

Next Century Spirits occupies an unusual position in the whiskey landscape: it is simultaneously a craft distiller building its own award-winning brand and an accelerant for other people's spirits ideas, using proprietary finishing technology to compress aging timelines that would otherwise take a small producer years to work through. The company has been named North Carolina Distillery of the Year three years running, 2021 through 2023, and its portfolio has collected more than 35 gold medals across national and international competitions. For those who appreciate good whiskey, BEAR FIGHT is worth watching precisely because it treats cask finishing as an engineering problem: monitored, measurable, and repeatable, rather than left entirely to the patience of a rickhouse.

Visiting the Distillery

No public tour or visitor program has been verified for Next Century Spirits. The Zebulon, North Carolina facility operates primarily as a production and private-label distilling site rather than a visitor destination, and the company's website does not list tasting room hours or scheduled tours as of July 2026.