DT | Google Fiber Presents How They Built It with Benay Shannon - Restless Spirits Distilling

Benay Shannon is the Master Distiller at Restless Spirits Distilling, which she founded with her husband, Michael Shannon, in 2015. She has a Bachelor’s of Science from The University of Colorado, a Master’s degree in Teaching from Park University, and studied distilling through Breckenridge Distillery in Breckenridge, Colorado and White Labs in San Diego, California. Born in Wisconsin, she was raised in the mountain town of Gunnison, Colorado.  After staying home to raise her children, Mrs. Shannon decided to follow the path of her father and spent 11 years teaching Science to Kansas City high-schoolers. 
 
Her formal scientific training came in handy in another way in 2013 when her husband, Mike, began distilling as a hobby and struggled to pinpoint a scorched taste in his early batches of whiskey. Through months of study, trial-and-error, and whiskey "sampling", Benay developed the process and recipe that are now at the cornerstone of Restless Spirits Distilling. 
 
Benay can be found at least 6 days a week in the distillery producing fine spirits or in her lab developing her next recipe. When she’s not working, her hobbies include competitive cowboy mounted shooting with her horse, Coosa, and spending time with her two grandchildren, JoAnna and Daniel.