The sooty-looking black gunk has been here for as long as anyone can remember, creeping on the outside of homes, spreading over porch furniture, blanketing car roofs, mysterious and ever-present.

Kentuckians have filed class-action lawsuits against some of Kentucky’s largest distilleries because of a fungus called Baudoinia, which “germinates on ethanol, the colorless alcohol that can evaporate during maturation.” -via NYTimes