Large Alcohol Spill at Heaven Hill Distillery in Bardstown
There was a spill of approximately 6,400 gallons of alcohol spilled at Heaven Hill distillery on Saturday afternoon. The spill is being deal with by a hazardous materials response from
Bardstown Fire Department and state and federal environmental regulators.
A dyke has been created to help capture some of the 180-proof alcohol, but a large portion spilled down a creek and into a lake at the rear of the building, said Bardstown Fire Chief Anthony Mattingly.
The spill occurred after a tanker delivered a load of the alcohol to the distillery in Nelson County. A shutoff valve between a large tank and a smaller tank was left open, allowing the liquid to flow into a smaller tank that then overflowed into a containment area. But a separate valve -- opened recently to release excess rainwater -- also had been left open. That allowed the alcohol to flow across a gravel parking lot and into the creek and lake, Mattingly said.
