We would pour one out for Chivas Brothers in remembrance of the loss of about 18,000 liters of Scotch whisky, but, well, plenty has been poured out already. Workers accidentally flushed around $750,000 worth of bulk whisky instead of the waste water they were supposed to dispose of at a bottling plant in Scotland this week.

According to reports from the BBC and Scottish Sun, the mix-up went down on Tuesday during a routine equipment cleaning. An “insider” says it happened in the middle of the night, and the bosses are “livid”:

“It happened on a night-shift washout — that’s when the equipment is cleaned for a changeover between different products. Instead of draining the water and cleaning solution, they flushed out all the whisky. What’s even more shocking is no one noticed until 11am.”

Sewage workers have discerning noses apparently, as they reportedly caught a whiff of the overwhelmingly strong smell and called it in.

Chivas Brothers says an investigation is underway as to how this kind of horrible booze tragedy could’ve happened. They’re also reassuring the public that the area’s waterways haven’t been filled with booze (maybe to keep the locals from running to the river for a free tumbler or two?).

“We are currently investigating an accidental loss on the 26th of February at our Dumbarton site, where some spirit was released to the local water treatment plant. There has been no release of spirit to the River Leven or any other local water course. We have informed Scottish Water and all other relevant authorities.”

Scottish Water responded to the incident as well, saying it was on the case before Chivas Brothers notified it of the spill.

“Discharging large volumes of alcohol into the sewer network can have an adverse impact on waste water treatment processes, particularly during dry, cold weather,” said a spokesman for the agency. “We are continuing to closely monitor our Dumbarton waste water treatment works to ensure treatment has not been compromised.”

We’d like to dedicate today’s Happy  Hour to you, whisky. We were going to do that anyway but now there’s a reason behind it.

Bunglers flush away 18,000 litres of Scotch [Scottish Sun]
Thousands of litres of whisky flushed down drain in Dumbarton [BBC]

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