Bourbon barrel recovery underway in damaged warehouse

OWENSBORO, Ky. (AP) – A Kentucky bourbon distillery says barrel recovery is underway at a storage warehouse that partially collapsed during a thunderstorm.

O.Z. Tyler Distillery in Owensboro says a quadrant of the warehouse has been “successfully deconstructed” and the painstaking process of recovering barrels is moving ahead as workers take down the entire rickhouse.

Distillery officials say the warehouse cannot be salvaged.

No one was injured when part of the warehouse collapsed early Monday. The distillery says “minimal leakage” of bourbon was reported.

Photo: O.Z. Tyler Distillery Facebook Page

The distillery says 19,400 barrels were aging in the warehouse, including about 4,500 barrels in the storm-damaged section.

Master Distiller Jacob Call says removing all the barrels “will take some time.”

Company officials have been meeting daily with EPA representatives as well as state and local officials.

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