Thousands of barrels of whiskey cracked open when the warehouse of a Kentucky distillery collapsed Friday, spilling liquid treasure over the ground. Roughly 9,000 barrels of the Barton 1792 distillery’s 18,000 barrel stock in Bardstown were lost in the building collapse that started around 11 a.m. Friday, Nelson County Dispatch Director Milton Spalding told the Louisville Courier Journal. No one was in the building at the time of the collapse, according to authorities, and no one was physically harmed by the incident. “Of course, there was the smell of bourbon in the air, but that’s kind of common in the warehouse facility, anyway,” Spalding said. BREAKING: Crews on scene at a building collapse at @Barton1792. Bardstown Fire Chief says they got the call around 11a. Bourbon barrels are stacked up in the mess. pic.twitter.com/4KeWMeFIun — Emily Maher (@EmilyMaherTV) June 22, 2018 The wooden, aluminum-sided warehouse was equipped with a concrete basement to capture the spilled amber-colored spirits and prevent flooding, The Associated Press reports. The Kentucky Division of Waste Management and the Division of Water collected samples of local water to see if the alcohol had seeped into groundwater, but the tests came out clean, John Mura, a spokesman for the Energy and Enviroment Cabinet, told The New York Times. “There is a stream of bourbon and water running down the hillside that has taken much time to properly and thoroughly assess,” Mura said. Some of the spirits appeared to flow into nearby Withrow Creek, but “it appears to be minimal,” he said. The cause of the collapse is still unclear. “It was just a regular kind of morning with light rain, cloudy skies,” Spalding said. “So we’re not sure what triggered it.” “We are assessing how many of the impacted barrels can be recovered,” Amy Preske, a spokeswoman for New Orleans-based Sazerac, which owns the distillery, said in a statement. “A mix of various distilled products at various ages were stored in that warehouse.” The Barton distillery was established in 1879 and is the oldest distillery in town. The facility was on a seasonal hiatus from distilling, and the company assured the public that the collapse won’t affect production. The collapsed warehouse is one of 29 rackhouses on the 196-acre estate. A version of this article appeared on The Daily Caller News Foundation website. Content created by The Daily Caller News Foundation is available without charge to any eligible news publisher that can provide a large audience. For licensing opportunities of our original content, please contact licensing@dailycallernewsfoundation.org. Truth and Accuracy Submit a Correction → * Name * Email * Message * All fields are required. Success! We are committed to truth and accuracy in all of our journalism. Read our editorial standards.<doc-sep>Thousands of barrels of bourbon whiskey crashed to the ground when a Kentucky building where they were being stored for aging collapsed. About 9,000 stacked barrels of the whiskey came down Friday at Barton 1792 Distillery, where 1792 Bourbon is made. The building, storing about 20,000 barrels of the bourbon, was having its walls repaired when the roof caved in and half the structure collapsed, according to reports. Police said that there were no injuries caused by the collapse, as no one was inside the building at the time. Officials from the state's Department for Environmental Protection were concerned that spilled bourbon from the barrels could contaminate a creek downhill from the collapsed structure, reported WLKY. But water sample tests so far found no trace of the liquor. The distillery told WKYT it would close its visitor office and not offer further tours Friday. It plans to reopen Saturday morning.<doc-sep>About half the structure holding the rest of the barrels was still standing, said Milt Spalding, a spokesman for the local emergency management agency. Engineers who arrived Friday were looking at "trying to secure what was remaining and trying to contain what had fallen," he said.<doc-sep>
To the bourbon fans out there: I'm sorry for what you're about to witness. I know it will pain you to see thousands of barrels piled up in a mess of broken wood and metal scraps rather than stacked neatly along the walls of your favorite distillery, but that's the unfortunate reality down in Bardstown, Ky. right now. SEE ALSO: 7 smoky beers to challenge your taste buds As the Courier-Journal reports, part of a warehouse at Barton 1792 Distillery collapsed on Friday, sending an estimated 9,000 barrels tumbling to the ground. No one was hurt. In a statement provided to the newspaper, the company said it's in the process of assessing the damage and determining which barrels can be saved. An image snapped by the Bardstown, Kentucky Fire Department shows the aftermath of the collapse. Image: Chief Billy Mattingly/AP/REX/Shutterstock Still, there's concern that leaking bourbon could contaminate the ground water. As the New York Times reports, though initial testing "came back clean," state officials from the Division of Waste Management and from the Division of Water plan to continue testing. Despite the collapse, the Courier-Journal reports that the distillery plans to stay open on Saturday for tours, as usual. The paper reports that the warehouse is just one of 29 warehouses on the distillery's property. While we're thrilled no one was hurt in the collapse, we'll be busy mourning the loss of what could be a serious amount of nice liquor. I mean, just look at the aerial footage, courtesy of CBS DFW: Pour one out for the barrels we've lost.