Barton Warehouse Collapse Spilled Over 1/3 Of Its Whiskey

By Richard Thomas

Barton’s 50 year old still
(Credit: Richard Thomas)

Ever since bourbon enthusiasts were left stunned by the news that Warehouse 30 had partially collapsed in late June at the Barton 1792 Distillery, a Sazerac property located in Bardstown, Kentucky, one question has been consistently making the rounds: how much whiskey was saved?

That is far from an idle question. The Barton property has many warehouses and even a total loss of the 18,000 barrels stored in the collapsed warehouse would represent just a small fraction of the distillery’s inventory. Yet in an era when demand for American Whiskey is still rising faster than supply, loss of even a small fraction could have a noticeable impact on the 1792 Bourbon brand and other Sazerac-made whiskeys.

Sazerac hasn’t released any information on how many barrels were damaged in the accident yet. However, Kentucky state officials have declared that 340,000 gallons of whiskey were collected in retention ponds following the collapse. A little mathematical exercise suggests that the loss is very likely over half the total contents of the warehouse.

An American Standard Barrel can hold 53 gallons of liquid. With 18,000 barrels stored, that is a theoretical maximum of 954,000 gallons of whiskey.

Inside a rickhouse at Barton
(Credit: Richard Thomas)

However, thanks to the Angel’s Share—the evaporation of liquid from the barrels—no barrel actually holds its maximum fill for very long. For example, a fairly average bottle of bourbon might contain a blend of 6 to 8 year old whiskeys, and 6 to 8 year old barrels should hold between 35 and 38 gallons of liquid. The rest was lost to evaporation. There is no way to estimate what the actual contents of the collapsed warehouse might have been without knowing the age of every single barrel and making a time-consuming projection based on that; said information is not available to the public.

It’s a reasonably conclusion, however, that the warehouse held a good deal less than 954,000 gallons. Furthermore, at least a sizable portion of the whiskey spilled in the initial June collapse was not collected into retention ponds. Spill management did not begin until at least three hours after the first half of the warehouse fell down, taking 9,000 barrels with it. Rivers of bourbon were running down the hillside, according to eyewitness reports, and enough alcohol got into the creek below to kills hundreds of fish.

Taking into account that the amount of whiskey stored was somewhat less than 954,000 gallons and the amount spilled was somewhat more than 340,000 gallons, my educated guess is that Barton 1792 lost at least half of the inventory of Warehouse 30 in the accident. That it spilled more than a third is a fact, demonstrated by the known figures.