whiskey

The fire that destroyed a massive Jim Beam warehouse filled with aging bourbon in Kentucky continued to burn Thursday as officials said the decision on whether to extinguish is still a day or two away.

Woodford County Emergency Management Director Drew Chandler said in a telephone interview the only thing left burning is ethanol fumes. Officials believe letting the fumes burn will have less environmental impact than spraying the fire with water, which could wash the bourbon into a nearby creek that flows into the Kentucky River.

American whiskey producers feeling the pain from the Trump administration's trade disputes have gotten a shot of relief with an agreement that will end retaliatory tariffs that Canada and Mexico slapped on whiskey and other U.S. products.

The whiskey industry hailed the arrangement to ease trade tensions among the North American allies and said it hopes it's the first of several rounds of good news on the trade front. Distillers have suffered shrinking exports since the last half of 2018 due to tariffs in some key markets.

For American whiskey producers, their tariff-induced hangover became more painful in late 2018 when a downturn in exports accelerated, especially in the European Union — the industry's biggest overseas market, an industry trade group said Thursday.

Overall exports of bourbon, Tennessee whiskey and rye whiskey fell 11 percent during the second half of 2018 compared to the prior-year six-month period as the impact of tariffs started to be felt, the Distilled Spirits Council said in a new report.

Last month, the council released an annual report that showed American whiskey exports had declined by 8.2 percent between July and November of 2018 compared to the prior-year period. But the report did not include December export figures.

A new whiskey created in Kentucky features a blend of age and scarcity that spiked demand -- and its price.

Whiskey fans including celebrities and CEOs are angling to snatch up the fewer than 300 bottles of Michter's Celebration Sour Mash Whiskey at nearly $4,000 per bottle.

Limited-edition offerings with heftier prices are common as American whiskey-makers dabble in new flavors to lure more customers. But this latest offering by Louisville-based Michter's Distillery is bringing the high end of the American whiskey business closer to the rarest bottles of Scotch, cognac and brandy.

The Michter's product reaches shelves Monday in select liquor stores, restaurants, bars and hotels in a handful of U.S. cities.

They may not be household names like Jim Beam or Wild Turkey, but Kentucky's craft bourbon distilleries now have their own tourist trail. One of the stops on the list—Corsair Artisan Distillery--is found in downtown Bowling Green.

The bad national economy hasn't put a dent in one of Kentucky's signature exports. In fact, bourbon production has increased 115% over the past 13 years, according to Eric Gregory, president of the Kentucky Distillers Association.