Almost 6,400 gallons of ethyl alcohol spilled from the back of a Heaven Hill distillery building Saturday afternoon.

The Bardstown Fire Department and state and federal environmental regulators treated the spill as a hazardous spill accident and responded similarly.

A dike pooled some of the spilled 180-proof alcohol, but a whole lot more spilled down a creek and into a lake at the rear of the building, Bardstown Fire Chief Anthony Mattingly said.

The spill was caused when a tanker full of the alcohol left a shutoff valve open letting the alcohol overflow into a containment area. Another valve had been opened to handle excess rain which let the spill reach the creek and lake.

occurred after a tanker delivered the alcohol to the distillery in Nelson County. A shutoff valve between a large tank and a smaller tank was left open, allowing the liquid to flow into the smaller tank, which then overflowed into a containment area, Mattingly said.

An environmental contractor helped mitigate the spill, the chief said.