Firefighters from four counties rushed to the scene just before midnight local time on Tuesday, sending flames high into the night sky. The heat from the huge blaze at the multi-storey building was so intense that lights on present fire engines melted. Woodford County Emergency Management Director Drew Chandler suggested a lightning strike might have caused the fire, but investigators have not yet been able to start looking for the cause.

No injuries have been reported and although the fire was brought under control, it was allowed to burn until Wednesday afternoon, when firefighters doused the warehouse’s charred remains.

Mr Chandler explained: “The longer it burns, the more of the distilled spirits burn with it.

“So when they go to put it out, there will be less contaminated runoff that goes into a drinking-water tributary.”

The focus has now turned to the impact on the surrounding environment the leaking bourbon might have.

The distiller has brought in an emergency clean-up team, with state environmental officials attempting to control the bourbon runoff into a nearby creek that flows into the Kentucky River.

Kentucky Energy and Environment Cabinet warned this could result in a huge number of deaths of nearby fish.

Spokesman John Mura warned of the “serious impact on aquatic life”, and said: “We do know there has been runoff enter the creek and it has made its way into the Kentucky River.”

State officials have warned people using the Kentucky River the runoff will cause water discolouration, foaming and an odour.

Beam Suntory, the Japanese beverage company that owns the classic US whiskey brand Jim Beam, confirmed it is working with the authorities to assess the environmental effects.

One standard barrel of bourbon holds around 53 gallons of the spirit that is eventually stored into up to 200 750ml bottles.

If all the burned barrels contained bourbon, that would result in the loss of six million bottles.

The distilling company said the warehouse contained “relatively young whiskey” and had not reached the level of maturity to bottle for drinkers.

The firm added the destroyed whiskey amounted to around just one percent of Jim Beam’s total inventory.

Beam Suntory said in a statement: “Given the age of the lost whiskey, this fire will not impact the availability of Jim Beam for consumers.”

The huge blaze at the Jim Beam warehouse is the latest Kentucky distiller warehouse storing bourbon to be destroyed.

Last month, the warehouse at O.Z. Tyler Distillery in Owensboro partially collapsed following a massive storm.

In June 2018, half of the warehouse belonging to Barton 1792 Distillery in Bardstown collapsed, with the other half coming down two weeks later.

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