Hard Summer For Bourbon Country

By Richard Thomas

In the midst of the Bourbon Boom and with autumn, the season when the most anticipated American Whiskey releases come out, it would be easy to overlook that Summer 2018 has not been an easy period for the Kentucky Bourbon industry. Washington politics, bad weather and a major accident have come together to make it an unlucky time in Bourbon Country.

Floods
The most recent foul turn has been flash flooding on Glenn’s Creek. On Sunday, August 12, this Woodford County watercourse came over its banks and disrupted operations at both Woodford Reserve and Castle & Key Distilleries.

Woodford Reserve was closed to the public on Sunday and Monday, as water, mud and debris washed into the historic fieldstone building that houses the distillery. No actual damage was reported (the distillery’s iconic triple set of copper pots are mounted on an elevated platform), but plenty of clean up was necessary.

Likewise, Castle & Key’s lower areas were flooded with water, mud and debris, particularly the key-shaped sunken garden that has been an attractive centerpiece since the distillery’s days as Old Taylor. Reportedly some of the surrounding walls were damaged, which must be irksome ahead of the distillery’s planned September 19th opening to the public.

It’s been a particularly wet year in Kentucky, and a wet summer in particular. That one Kentucky distillery or another would experience flooding was almost inevitable. The third distillery that lies directly adjacent to a major waterway, Buffalo Trace, has thus far been spared.

The Trade War
Flooding is a minor and localized concern compared to the growing trade war that has swept up American Whiskey as a whole, set in motion by President Trump’s
tariffs on steel imports. Most of the countries so effected have targeted American Whiskey for retaliatory duties in turn, a move seen as designed to put pressure on Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY). The tariffs have already impacted the state’s smaller distillers, prompting them to expensively cancel plans to being exporting or expand exports. The big distillers have been able to delay the impact of higher prices and consequent reduced sales by stocking up inventory abroad ahead of the tariffs taking effect, but they will feel the bite soon too.

Barton’s Warehouse Collapse
Warehouse 30 at Barton 1792 in Bardstown suffered a partial collapse in late June, spilling about half the contents. When the rest of the building fell, all of the roughly 18,000 barrels were left in the spoil. Based on what is known, a minimum of one-third and more likely over half of the whiskey stored in Warehouse 30 was lost. Why the warehouse collapsed has yet to be established.

Clean-up of the site is now well underway, as cranes and excavators pick through the debris, looking for barrels that are undamaged or only slightly damaged. Slightly damaged, leaking barrels are removed for repair by the coopers; those that cannot be salvaged are drained of whatever remains, the bourbon going into holding tanks to be put back into new barrels later.

The salvage and clean-up operation began on July 9th, and several weeks later Sazerac has no official estimate on when the painstaking work will be complete. The company may also yet suffer fines for environmental damage caused by the spill of tens or hundreds of thousands of gallons of alcohol into a local creek.