Whiskey fungus that ‘feeds’ on Jack Daniel’s scares US town – 05/03/2023 – Market

The ethanol-fueled fungus known as the whiskey fungus has thrived around distilleries and bakeries for centuries. It has caused complaints from residents who live near Kentucky bourbon distilleries, makers of Canadian whiskey and Caribbean rum.

Now it’s driving a wedge between some residents of Lincoln County, Tennessee, and the famous Jack Daniel’s distillery, founded in 1866 in neighboring Moore County.

Residents have complained for months that a sooty, dark crust has covered houses, cars, road signs, bird feeders, lawn furniture and trees as the fungus spreads uncontrollably, fueled by alcohol vapors emanating from charred oak barrels. where Jack Daniel’s whiskey ages.

Jack Daniel’s has built six warehouses, known as barrel houses, to age whiskey in rural Lincoln County, which is home to about 35,000 residents, and is building a seventh on a property that has room to house one more, a doorman said. company voice. The distillery asked the county to change the zoning of a second property where it could build six more warehouses.

A company representative, Donna Willis, told county officials in November that 14 warehouses would generate $1 million (R$5.2 million) in annual property tax revenue for the county, which had approved about $15 million (R$78.1 million) in general budgets for the 2022 fiscal year.

But not all residents are happy with the expansion.

Christi Long, who owns a local mansion built in the 1900s that she rents out as a venue for weddings and other events, sued the county in January, alleging that keg facilities near her property did not have the proper permits. Insider previously reported on the dispute.

A judge recently ruled that a barrel house currently under construction had not been properly approved and that its building permit would have to be rescinded until Jack Daniel’s obtained the necessary permits.

Long’s attorney, Jason Holleman, said he planned to ask the judge and the county to bar Jack Daniel’s from using other warehouses near Long’s 3,000-square-foot mansion, known as the Manor at ShaeJo.

She and her husband, Patrick Long, said the whiskey fungus had already invaded the property, blackening the copper roof and exterior walls, creeping over the rock garden and metal gate and encrusting the branches of the magnolia trees. Nearby, it darkens metallic road signs, they said.

The Longs said they use a high-pressure hose to wash their property every three months with water and chlorine bleach, but the fungus always comes back.

“If you scrape your fingernail across the branch of the tree, it will cover your fingertip,” said Patrick Long. “It’s just disgusting.”

Christi Long said her Lincoln County area “will turn black as coal” unless Jack Daniel’s installs air filters in warehouses, one of which is about 250 meters from her property.

“This fungus is now on steroids,” she said.

An attorney representing Lincoln County declined to comment, citing ongoing litigation.

Melvin Keebler, general manager of Jack Daniel Distillery, said in a statement that the company “complies with all local, state and federal regulations regarding the design, construction and licensing of our warehouses.”

“We are committed to protecting the environment and the safety and health of our employees and neighbors,” said Keebler.

At a county commission meeting in November, Willis, Jack Daniel’s director of technical services, keg maintenance and distribution, said studies have shown the fungus is not dangerous to human health and does not cause damage to property.

“Could it be a nuisance?” said Willis. “Yes of course. And it can be easily remedied by washing it.”

She said the company would not, however, agree to wash houses with special equipment, saying Jack Daniel’s could be held responsible for any damage.

Willis also said that the air filters could damage the flavor that Jack Daniel’s whiskey acquires during the aging process. Distillers poetically refer to the alcohol that evaporates during this process as “the angel’s share.”

The fungus that develops from lost alcohol has been noticed since at least the 1870s, when Antonin Baudoin, director of the Association of French Distillers, observed a “plague of soot” blackening the walls of distilleries in Cognac, France.

James A. Scott, a professor at the University of Toronto’s Dalla Lana School of Public Health who has studied the fungus since 2001 — and helped name its genus, Baudoinia, after Baudoin — said he was not aware of any research looking specifically at the fungus. health effects of exposure to the fungus.

But the fungus can destroy properties and cling to almost any surface, he said. One whiff of alcohol, Scott said, makes it remarkably resistant to temperature changes, allowing it to withstand hot Tennessee summers.

“The fungus is quite destructive, and the only way to stop it is to stop the alcohol supply,” Scott wrote in an email. “It destroys patio furniture, siding and almost any outdoor surface. I’ve seen trees choked to death by it. It seems a small blessing that it doesn’t have a negative impact on human health.”

Tracy Ferry said she and her husband, Warren Ferry, who bought a house in Lincoln three years ago, expected Jack Daniel’s to install air filters.

According to Tracy Ferry, since Jack Daniel’s built a barrel house next to her house in December, whiskey fungus has accumulated on the roof of the house, in the car and on the trees on her property. She said she scraped the paint off the wooden patio furniture when she tried to remove the dark mold.

“I could try to sell the house, but what will I get?” said Ferry. “Who will want to live here?”

Translated by Luiz Roberto M. Gonçalves