Residents of This Small Town Are Upset With ‘Agonizingly Slow’ Process in Wake of Invasive Whiskey Fungus Allegedly Produced by Local Distillery

A fire hydrant covered in the black whiskey fungus is pictured at the Jack Daniel’s facility in Tennessee. (Photo: AP Photo/John Amis)

The Wiggly Bridge Distillery pushed back at allegations that it was responsible for a recent outbreak of the Baudoinia whiskey fungus, according to Seacoastonline on Wednesday. The accusations came to light when the owners of the distillery expressed interest in an expansion project that involved a new barrel house.

The York, Maine-based distillery hired an engineering planner, Alex Maxwell, to dispute claims from a report done by the University of Maine that Wiggly Bridge was responsible for the nearby Baudoinia cluster.

“Our biggest argument is that there really wasn’t a controlled progression analysis done to account for other potential contributing factors to the carbonaceous feedstock to grow the fungus,” Maxwell stated to the city’s Planning Board.

The Planning Board agreed to hear both sides, and residents expressed a mixture of fear and outrage at the decision.

“I am so disappointed with this being pushed for another month again,” quipped a local resident, Carolyn Zotos, in the public hearing section.

Zotos is one of the many residents whose home is at risk of exposure to the Baudoinia fungus.

The Wiggly Bridge Whiskey Fungus Case Continues…

The father-and-son team that owns the distillery, both named David Woods, claimed they were willing to “go all the way” as soon as a study performed by the University of Maine claimed it was “highly likely” the distillery was responsible for the fungal outbreak.

Neighbors cited the study as a reason for the city Planning Board to deny the distillery’s expansion.

Yet despite frustrations from members of the community, Board members asked residents to be patient.

“We have a process,” a member claimed. “Sometimes it’s agonizingly slow.”

Residents did not respond too kindly to this.

Beth Downs of 1 Woodcock Lane held up a photo of the black fungus-cloaked Kentucky community that abuts Jim Beam’s distillery and stated:

“This could be York.”

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