No ale was involved in this incident. Bacteria levels, to my knowledge, were not increased. You are right that containers did burst, though.
Damn, I thought I had it there!
Was a type of moonshine or other distilled spirit involved?
Just to check: did containers burst due to heat?
Yes, the containers burst from heat. It was a hard liquor.
Did the burst containers hold the hard liquor?
They sure did.
Did the victims simply drink too much of otherwise potable hard liquor?
I needed a NO for my theory to work! I thought maybe liquid from burst containers of some other substance could have seeped into and poisoned the liquor.
But how about the opposite? The liquor burst out of the containers and poured over containers of something poisonous. Because the labelling was inadequate those containers now smelled like liquor, fooling people into thinking they contained the sweet alcoholic embrace they craved most after a horrible fire.
It’s the best I’ve got for now…
I was thinking this, like, the barrels were free to loot and people just drank more than they usually would
Did the heat change the chemical composition of the alcohol, and made it deadly, or more deadly than normal?
This is closer, but still not right. There was theft(??) of alcohol.
My ?? is only because the stuff was pouring out and people probably figured it was free for the taking since any not gathered would be washed down drains. I hardly consider it theft.
Did they drink industrial alcohol, mistaking it for drinking alcohol?
Nope.
I think you missed my question.
NOPE
So:
There was a fire at an alcohol storage/creating place
Lots of containers of alcohol were breached, creating a flood
People drank the flooded alcohol
Those that drank died.
Did all those that drank die?
No. Remember, 11 were hospitalized and many others probably weren’t even hospitalized.
Was the alcohol tainted because the containers burst?
If so, was it because it spilled onto unclean streets or waterways?
Was the deadly poison some other kind of alcohol (e.g., methanol, isopropanol, etc.)?
Was it something deliberately added to alcohol to make it not drinkable (such as the additives added to fuel alcohol)?
Was it mouthwash?
No to both.
No to all.
Did the hard liquor get into the local water supply, and so they drank it without realising?