1940s bourbon warehouse collapses; 1792 Open for Tours

Bourbon

June 23, 2018

Yesterday, a rickety barrel warehouse collapsed at the Barton 1792 distillery in Bardstown. Today, its parent company, Sazerac, issued a statement about the warehouse, adding 1792 is still open for tours.

Alas, Warehouse No. 30 is not on the tour schedule.

It collapsed June 22 around 11 a.m. No one was inside the warehouse and there were no injuries, the company said.

The distillery team took proactive measures to access and contain the damage immediately, the company said.  The Kentucky Department for Environmental Protection has been on site and the Distillery team implemented a number of actions to minimize any environmental risk, Sazerac said.

“Barrel Warehouse #30 was built in the 1940s and held approximately 18,000 barrels,” the company statement said.  “We believe no more than half of the barrels inside are impacted; we are assessing how many of the impacted barrels can be recovered.  A mix of various distilled products at various ages were stored in that warehouse.”

Sazerac said this will not impact normal operations, but it may be several days or weeks before a full assessment of the damage to Warehouse 30 at Barton 1792 is fully complete.  The company does not know what brands or customers will be impacted.

But if I know the bourbon consumer world, people cannot wait for a taste of “Warehouse 30.”

That said, this is no laughing matter. WHAS 840 a.m. reporter Paul Miles tweeted: “Kentucky fire chief believes the from a warehouse collapse is running into a nearby creek; awaiting EPA arrival.”

 

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