Tragedy Strikes ! ! !

A fire in Kentucky destroyed a warehouse containing about 45,000 barrels of Jim Beam bourbon after officials let the blaze run its course to avoid ethanol contamination in a nearby creek that runs into the Kentucky River.

Drew Chandler, the Woodford County Emergency Management Director, commented: "It’s about the best-smelling fire I’ve ever been at.  It is not as pungent like in a house fire because it is mostly old natural wood and a distilled spirit, so it has a bit of a sweetness to it."

REF: New York Times

Bummer

The price of Jim Beam just went WAY, WAY up.

Perhaps not.

"The distilling company said the multistory warehouse that burned contained 'relatively young whiskey,' meaning it had not reached maturity for bottling for consumers. Bourbon acquires its color and flavor while aging for years in charred new oak barrels.

'Given the age of the lost whiskey, this fire will not impact the availability of Jim Beam for consumers,' the spirits company said in a statement."

Ref: Chicago Tribune

It may not show immediate impact, but somewhere down the road the cost for the 45,000 barrels will show up on the retail pricing.

Thank God

This type of stuff happens all the time. Back in June one of the storage buildings in Owensboro, Ky collapsed.  They only lost 10,000 barrels in that one.

That's about 6,500,00 1/5ths of booze.