Residents of Lincoln County, Tennessee, a community of 35,000 people, are tired of the black mold coating their homes, streets, and public spaces, and want someone to do something about it.
That is, they want someone named Jack Daniels to do something about it.
The mold, called baudoinia compniacensis, or as its known more colloquially as "whiskey fungus," grows from the ethanal vapors exuded by whiskey distilleries.
Jack Daniels has one located in town, and in 2018, the company built six barrel houses there and had plans to construct 14 more before a lawsuit stopped them.
Christi Long filed that lawsuit because Jack Daniels didn't obtain the proper permits to build the extra barrel houses, and now wants to block Jack Daniels from using the other six barrel houses due to the abundance of the whiskey fungus.
Long told the New York Times, "This fungus now is on steroids. If you take your fingernail and run your fingernail down our tree branch, it will just coat the tip of your finger … It's just disgusting."
The fungus' spread is all due to the evaporated byproduct, popularly known as the "angels share."
Long's lawyer Jason Holleman told reporters. "If you go on one of these distillery tours, they will tell you about the angels' share that goes into the atmosphere, and unfortunately, that also results in the devil's fungus."
Elizabeth Conway, a spokesperson for Brown-Forman, which owns the Jack Daniel's brand, shared in a statement, "We respect the Chancellor's ruling and look forward to working with Lincoln County on updated permits.
"The Jack Daniel Distillery will continue to comply with regulations and industry standards regarding the design, construction, and permitting of our barrelhouses in Lincoln Co."
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