The bourbon was free and flowing at one Kentucky distillery, but not in the way one might think.
Thousands of bourbon barrels plummeted and crashed into a massive heap Friday morning after a decades-old storage warehouse at the Barton 1792 Distillery suddenly collapsed.
The distillery, located in Bardstown, Kentucky near Louisville, had a large section of its storage fall to the ground, sending thousands of barrels tumbling .
The distillery owner says the warehouse, built in the 1940s, held about 18,000 barrels, half of which were affected in the collapse.
A Barton 1792 Distillery warehouse in Bardstown, Kentucky collapsed on Friday, sending thousands of aged bourbon barrels tumbling to the ground
A large portion of the warehouse fell to the ground taking nearly 9,000 barrels down with it
Each barrel holds 53gallons of bourbon and weighs a whopping 550lbs
Each barrel holds 53gallons of bourbon and weighs a whopping 550lbs, according to WLKY.
It is not clear what caused the collapse at 10:55am.
‘We are assessing how many of the impacted barrels can be recovered,’ Louisiana-based spirits company Sazerac spokeswoman Amy Preske said.
‘A mix of various distilled products at various ages were stored in that warehouse,’ she added.
No injuries were reported and no one was in the building during the crash.
Officials say it could take days to weeks for the company to fully assess the extent of damage.
‘At this time, we do not know which Barton 1792 brands or customers will be impacted,’ Preske said.
The collapse will not affect normal operations at the distillery which will continue to be open for tours and will resume business operations.
The cause of the collapse is not clear, officials are investigating the extent of the damage
The collapse will not effect operations at the distillery. The fall only affected one of the distillery’s 29 warehouses
Officials are checking to see if any alcohol spilled into a nearby water way, with initial water samples showing no signs of contamination, according to Nelson County Emergency Management director Joe Prewitt said.
He added distillery workers took steps to minimize environmental risk following the collapse.
Kentucky is home to whiskey and bourbon production in the US with a value of $1.1billion.
Kentucky distillers have more than 6.6 million bourbon barrels aging, according to the Kentucky Distillers’ Association, but the warehouse collapse Friday was a first for Prewitt.
The Emergency Management director said he has attended to warehouse fires, but never a collapse.
The Barton distillery was established in 1879 and has 29 storage warehouses and 22 other buildings, according to its website.