Tennessee residents who live near Jack Daniels distilleries are attempting to stop the corporate from constructing more facilities as a whiskey fungus overtakes surrounding towns.
The fungus, Baudoinia compniacensis, grows on liquor that evaporates in the course of the aging process, also generally known as “the angels’ share.”
It appears to stick with absolutely anything, including houses, cars, road signs, trees and patio furniture.
The centuries-old black, sticky substance is nothing latest for individuals who live around bourbon, rum and whiskey makers.
But Jack Daniel’s, owned by Brown-Forman, now has six warehouses — called barrelhouses — in Tennessee’s Lincoln County and needs to construct greater than a dozen in the longer term.
A stop sign near a Jim Beam production and bottling facility in Frankfort, Kentucky, is roofed within the fungus, named Baudoinia compniacensis, in a 2014 photo.AFP via Getty Images
A Tennessee woman sued her local zoning office in January, trying to forestall the constructing of 14 more distilleries unless ventilation systems are installed, as she claimed the hard-to-remove fungus has harmed her nearby property, which incorporates a celebration and wedding venue.
On March 1, the court ordered Jack Daniel’s to temporality halt construction.
Residents of Kentucky and even Ontario, Canada, have handled similar fungi that they worry pose harmful health and environmental risks.
The fungus grows on alcohol vapor that comes off of aging barrels.
Bloomberg via Getty Images
A spokesperson for Jack Daniel’s issued a lengthy statement to The Post, which read:
“In the course of the siting and constructing process, we worked closely with Lincoln County and provided all information asked of us by local officials, in addition to adhered to regulatory requirements, strict industry guidelines, and rigorous internal standards that we follow in constructing warehouses.
“Anyone who has visited the Jack Daniel Distillery or some other distillery with maturing spirits has likely noticed the presence of microflora.
“Microflora grows on trees, buildings, and other structures around distilleries and warehouses.
“Ethanol released from barrels during maturation, also called “the angels’ share,” is just considered one of microflora’s many food sources.
“More common in warm and humid environments, it is usually present in and around areas unrelated to distilling, corresponding to food processing firms and bakeries, and dams adjoining to bodies of water,” the corporate continued.
“While we’re accustomed to microflora, we appreciate that some may not like the way it looks and the inconvenience it might present.
“Based on the data available, we imagine it isn’t harmful to individuals or their property.”
Whiskey fungus grows on a register Lawrenceburg near the Wild Turkey distillery and bourbon warehouses.TNS
The statement from Jack Daniel’s also addressed the viability of tweaking ventilation.
“As for air filtration technology that has been offered up by some as an answer, it is simple to say but impossible to do.
“Barrelhouses require ventilation – and are designed to accomplish that naturally – to permit for the movement of whiskey out and in of latest charred oak barrels in the course of the aging process.
“Existing independent and government research shows that there isn’t a reasonably available control technology to forestall ethanol emissions without significantly adversely affecting the taste and quality of Jack Daniel’s or some other aged whiskey,” the statement concluded.
