IN LOCAL NEWS: The Colorado Springs Gazette did a story on Michael Girard and his 3 Hundred Days of Shine distillery here in Monument.

The area’s sole moonshine-focused distillery opened September 2014. Girard has produced a whole lot of his flavored liquor since. His distributor picks up at least 300 cases once a month – each containing 12 Mason jars as opposed to the traditional six-bottle cases of other liquors – and ships them to more than 250 liquor stores statewide. This month’s order, which he finished bottling Monday afternoon, totaled $25,400. That figure is $4,000 short, he said, because he did not have enough moonshine ready for the full order.

He never had trouble keeping up with demand until this month, he said. The year-and-a-half-old business has peaked at $30,000 per month, and Girard only sees that number growing. He used to run his still once a week and had enough to get by, but he presently finds himself running twice a week and in need of more help with bottling. He remains optimistic nevertheless.

“Even if demand picks up, I’ve only been running at about 30 percent capacity,” he said. “If I need to run that still four days a week and quadruple my production, I can do that.”

Good to know. I’ve been in a few times, and I’ll keep going back. The Centennial Wheat ‘shine drinks a lot like bourbon — highly recommended if you ever find yourself on the Front Range.