Barton 1792 spill filled big bourbon ponds with thousands of gallons

Darcy Costello | Courier Journal

Show Caption Hide Caption Aerial video of Barton's 1792 Distillery barn complete collapse in Bardstown, KY Aerial video of Barton's 1792 Distillery barn complete collapse in Bardstown, KY that occurred on the Fourth of July in 2018.

The thousands of bourbon barrels sent toppling to the ground in the collapse of the second half of a Barton 1792 distillery warehouse this week in Bardstown let loose a flood of Kentucky's signature spirit.

Roughly 120,000 gallons have been captured in two retention ponds constructed after the collapse of the first half of the structure, said John Mura, a spokesman for the state Energy and Environment Cabinet.

The first collapse June 22 led to leaks that killed about 800 fish in a nearby stream and pond, leading to a citation from the Energy and Environment Cabinet and a potential fine.

Barton 1792's parent company, New Orleans-based Sazerac company, said Wednesday that the collapse of the seven-story warehouse is under investigation. The second half of the wooden structure was "unable to be secured ... due to workers' safety concerns," according to a news release.

"It is unknown at this time how many barrels can be salvaged. Officials expect it to be weeks before the root cause is determined," Sazerac spokeswoman Amy Preske wrote.

Related: Kentucky could fine Barton 1792 after warehouse collapse kills fish

Mura said Friday morning that officials are sampling water every four hours to determine possible effects of the second collapse. At this point, he said, "we have no indications that there's anything going in the water."

Sazerac noted in its news release that the distillery team was prepared and had equipment at the ready to address any further problems from either the debris or the structure that remained standing. They said on Wednesday that no runoff from the second collapse entered waterways.

The collapsed barrel-aging warehouse — called a rickhouse or rackhouse in the industry — is one of 29 on the distillery’s 196 acres, which also features 22 other buildings, including a stillhouse. The distillery employed 392 full-time employees in 2017, according to a Kentucky incentives database.

While nobody was injured in either collapse, the first incident spooked some nearby residents. Stephanie Elliott lives just five yards away from a massive warehouse holding thousands of bourbon barrels, just like the one that collapsed.

"That makes it scary living here," Elliott, a 38-year-old mother of three told the Courier Journal in June. "If it had been this one and not that one it would have taken out our house, or worse."

Kentucky distilleries are aging a total 6.8 million bourbon barrels, according to the Kentucky Distillers' Association.

Barton 1792 Distillery, established in 1879, is the oldest fully-operating distillery in Bardstown, Kentucky, according to its website. Sazerac also owns the Buffalo Trace Distillery in Frankfort.

The remaining barrel warehouses at Barton 1792 Distillery and two other Sazerac-owned distilleries in Kentucky have been inspected and deemed safe, the company wrote in the Wednesday news release.

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What is a rickhouse?

Rickhouses or rackhouses are whiskey-aging warehouses where barrels are stored in “ricks,” or racks that stack barrels three high and store them on their sides, according to whiskeyadvocate.com.

How much bourbon is in one barrel?

The typical bourbon barrel is 53 U.S. gallons in size, which is the de facto standard whiskey barrel size worldwide. Some distillers transfer their whiskey into different barrels to "finish" or add qualities to the final product.

Darcy Costello: 502-582-4834; dcostello@courier-journal.com; Twitter: @dctello. Support strong local journalism by subscribing today: courier-journal.com/darcyc.