Whiskey fungus the next int'l. class-action lawsuit?

I visited the Jim Beam distillery in Kentucky a few years back. It was hard to find without a GPS, in the middle of nowhere. When we got there, we saw a bunch of wooden barns and buildings painted jet black, like some kind of Satanic village in the woods, like something out of a horror flick.

When I asked why, they said the smoke from the distillery discolored the wood, so they might as well paint it black.

Now I'm not so sure they were telling the truth.... I guess Milton Friedman's courts-as-regulators will sort it out, but in the meantime, I'll still keep sipping my KY bourbon and Scotch whisky.  

Whisky [sic] fungus tarnishes homes in Kentucky

By Alan Fisher

September 16, 2012 | Al Jazeera

URL: http://blogs.aljazeera.com/blog/americas/whisky-fungus-tarnishes-homes-kentucky