9,000 barrels of bourbon fall in US distillery collapse

Washington, June 23 (IANS) About 9,000 stacked bourbon barrels plummeted to the ground at a distillery building in the US state of Kentucky when part of the structure collapsed.

The Barton 1792 Distillery building, home of the brand 1792 Bourbon, was having a wall repaired. The collapse on Friday brought down half of the structure, reports CNN.

A police official said there was no one inside when the roof caved in.

It is unclear whether the bourbon spilled from the containers, but a nearby creek was of concern because of the structure's position on a hill. 

Representatives from the state's Department for Environmental Protection were dispatched to the scene. But water samples came back clean.

Typically, each barrel holds 53 gallons of bourbon and weighs about 550 pounds.