Jersey City-based Misunderstood Brands, the innovation-driven spirits company behind Misunderstood Whiskey Co.® and OATRAGEOUS®, announced a strategic production partnership with Lofted Spirits. This move is set to dramatically accelerate Misunderstood’s nationwide expansion and new product development efforts.
The partnership comes on the heels of strong double-digit year-over-year growth for Misunderstood Brands and a major win for its OATRAGEOUS Oat Milk Liqueur, which recently secured a Walmart Golden Ticket award.
Under the new agreement, the Bardstown Bourbon Company distillery, a subsidiary of Lofted Spirits, will become the primary production hub for Misunderstood Brands across multiple product lines.
Lofted Spirits, which also owns Green River Distillery, was selected due to its advanced manufacturing platform and deep technical expertise. The collaboration will allow Misunderstood to scale production more efficiently and aggressively innovate its portfolio, which includes Misunderstood Ginger Spiced Whiskey and its popular Dairy-Free Oat Nog.
OATRAGEOUS—which is modernizing the cream liqueur category with its plant-based, dairy-free approach—will be the first cream-based liqueur produced at the Bardstown Bourbon Company distillery, expanding the facility’s capabilities.
“Lofted Spirits was built to partner with the most forward-thinking brands in the industry, and Misunderstood is exactly that,” Pete Marino, president of Lofted Spirits said.
Misunderstood Brands co-founders JD Recobs and Chris Buglisi highlighted the strategic necessity of the partnership as they face surging national demand for their products.
“This partnership gives us the scale, the speed, and the world-class production backbone to meet the demand we’re seeing nationwide while continuing to push into new categories with the creativity our consumers expect from us,” Recobs and Buglisi said in a joint statement.
The integration lays the foundation for substantial expansion and accelerated development of new innovations set to roll out over 2026. This move solidifies the New Jersey-founded company’s ability to compete on a national scale with the support of one of the country’s most advanced distilling ecosystems.
