Perhaps it was only a matter of time that the remaining half of a Kentucky bourbon warehouse which collapsed two weeks ago would come crashing down.
And now it has. The second half of the building has collapsed, sending another 9,000 barrels of liquor crashing down along with it.
The Barton 1792 Distillery in Kentucky, which can store up to 20,000 barrels, was undergoing repairs at the time of the first incident back in June. Barrels from that collapse still haven’t been cleaned up because of worker safety concerns, CNN affiliate WLKY reported. It’s not clear what caused either collapse.
“It’s not the call you ever want to get, but now we’ve gotten it twice in just a couple weeks,” Milt Spalding, spokesman for Nelson County Emergency Management, told WLKY.
Each barrel contains about 53 gallons of liquor. So with 9,000 barrels biting that dust, well, that’s a lot of bourbon.
No one was hurt in either accident.
After the first collapse, spilled bourbon contaminated two nearby creeks, killing almost 1,000 fish.
State environmental officials had said they would fine Sazerac Inc., parent company of the distillery, up to $25,000 per day.
This time, the runoff was contained by officials, WLKY reported.
Now, the company is looking to build a new warehouse with hopes of salvaging the barrels that are still intact.