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One side of a warehouse at Barton 1792, the Sazerac owned-distillery in Bardstown, Kentucky, collapsed on the morning of Friday the 22nd, provoking widespread consternation among bourbon enthusiasts and causing a major spill of whiskey into the local groundwater.
Warehouse 30 was built in the 1940s and stored approximately 18,000 barrels. The building experienced structural failure at about 11:00 am that morning, with half the contents of the warehouse either falling out of the structure or otherwise impacted.
How many of those barrels were destroyed or damaged sufficiently to leak is still unknown at present, but the spilled whiskey killed several hundred fish in nearby Withrow Creek. This was despite the response of Sazerac, local fire officials and the Kentucky Department of Environmental Protection, which reportedly stemmed the flow of alcohol downhill by 2 pm. However, the contamination has proved temporary, as fish have already been seen moving back into the watercourse.
It will likely be weeks before a full inventory of the affected barrels is done. Sazerac has indicated the collapse will not effect ongoing production at Barton 1792 in any way, especially as the annual summer maintenance shutdown was already scheduled. Tours of the distillery resumed the day after the accident.
