York board puts off decision on distillery’s expansion request amid neighbors’ ‘whiskey fungus’ fears

Wooden barrels of alcohol are stacked on structures called ricks in the barrelhouse at the Wiggly Bridge Distillery in York. The distillery is seeking to build two additional barrelhouses, but the expansion is opposed by neighbors because of concerns over what is known as whiskey fungus. Gregory Rec/Staff Photographer

The York Planning Board put off a decision on whether to approve a business expansion request from Wiggly Bridge Distillery, saying it needed more time to consider information presented by the distillery’s owner at its meeting Thursday night.

Dozens of neighbors of the distillery, which produces craft whiskey and other spirits, showed up at Thursday night’s meeting at the York Public Library to express their concerns about the risks posed by whiskey fungus.

The planning board members voted 3-1 to continue their review after Wiggly Bridge owner David Wood introduced information that he said called into question the methodology of a town study on the presence of whiskey fungus in the neighborhood. Chairman Wayne Boardman said the expansion request will be considered at the board’s Sept. 28 meeting, giving both board members and the public more time to review the new information.

“Both the applicant and the neighbors have expressed frustration at how slow the process has been, but we have to follow a process that can be agonizingly slow,” Boardman told the crowd gathered at the library. “We’re doing the best we can to get all the information we can.”

The presence of baudoinia compniacensis – known colloquially as “whiskey fungus” because it feeds on alcohol vapors – has upset residents who live near the distillery. They argue that the fungus amounts to a code violation that should prompt the planning board to deny the application. They say the fungus has the potential to harm their homes and their home values.

Neighbors argue that the presence of whiskey fungus will only get worse if the company, which Wood founded with his son, David Wood II, in 2013, gets bigger. Wood is looking to expand at 441 and 445 Route 1, where he wants to add two more barrelhouses, where wooden barrels are stored as the alcohol ages.

Whiskey fungus, a byproduct of the whiskey-making process, clings to surfaces and creates a black film, which can be removed by power washing.

Near large distilleries, it can be found in such heavy concentrations that it creates a soot-like crust. Researchers have so far not found any health risks to the public.

In Kentucky and Tennessee, where major distillers age millions of barrels of liquor at a time, the fungus has become an unsightly crust and the subject of lawsuits.

Ken McAuliffe, who lives near the distillery, called on the planning board to deny the company’s application to expand.

“Wiggly Bridge Distillery has been a deep and growing concern for a number of people,” McAuliffe said. “I have not met a single person who is in favor of this. Their expansion only compounds the problem. It poses an unreasonable and unconscionable risk.”

Another neighbor, Beth Downs, displayed a photo of a hose used to power wash the fungus off a home or car.

“Why do we have use a hose to live in our homes, to enjoy the homes that we bought?” she asked the board. Downs said the planning board should be requiring the applicant to mitigate the effects of whisky fungus, not the residents.

John McMahon said he has lived in his home for 33 years. “Our homes, our primary assets ought not to be devalued for the profit of others,” he said.

Wood says the fungus has been sensationalized by his opponents. He points to examples of other black stains around town to show his business is being unfairly singled out. He and his son believe the town should approve their proposal for a 1,685-square-foot addition to their main building and to construct two buildings, totaling 5,662 square feet, for aging whiskey on an adjacent lot.

The York Planning Board has been asked to consider whether the Wiggly Bridge application conforms to a local ordinance that prohibits any “emission of dust, dirt, fly ash, fumes, vapors or gases which could damage human health, animals, vegetation, or property, or which could soil or stain persons or property, at any point beyond the lot line of the commercial or industrial establishment.”