I prefer a good Irish Whiskey myself but here's an interesting history on whiskey vs. bourbon
I read not too long ago.
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Whiskies, whether they are spelled "whiskey" or "whisky" are always distilled
spirits made from a grain based product (Note: If you distill whiskey, or
any spirit to > 92% abv, then it becomes vodka).
You can essentially think that brandy is distilled from grape/fruit wine, and
whiskey is distilled from beer. (although that isn't quite right... the "wine"
that is distilled for whiskey doesn't include hops).
Irish Whiskey basically came first (by most accounts), and is made from malted
barley. Scotch Whisky (note spelling difference) is also made from malted
barley, but it is dried over peat fires, which adds a very distinctive smokey
flavor to it.
Whiskey production got an early start in the US, even George Washington had
his own still where he made Rye Whiskey. We didn't have a lot of barley
growing over here, so we made our whiskies with what we had on hand, and ended
up (on the east coast) using primarily Rye. Corn, wheat, and other grains
would be added to the rye as well, but to a lesser degree. I "think" that
might have been because those other grains were more in demand for breads and
other food-stuff.
The "Whiskey Rebellion" (started in 1791) was the result of increased taxation
(and enforcement) on liquor and distilled beverages, and instead of putting up
with such attacks on their "freedom", many (but not all) whiskey distillers
moved west. Once settling on the plains of Tennesee, Kentucky, etc. they
started growing foodstuffs for sustancance, and before long had a goodly
amount of corn and wheat, but they weren't growing much rye... so the whiskey
they started making was prodominantely made from corn. What they didn't drink
themselves, was casked up and shipped down the Mississippi, originating from a
port in Bourbon County... hence it was often referred to as "Whiskey From
Bourbon"... which eventually just got shortened to "Bourbon".
On the east coast, they were still making Rye whiskey however, and it was so
popular that in most places "Rye" and "Whiskey" meant essentially the same
thing.
Now a quick trip to Canada...
There, whiskey had a bit of a different origin story.
The farmers, who grew the grains that would be made into bread and other
products, had to get their grains ground into flour, a task which few farmers
were set up to do themselves. They instead took their raw grain to the miller,
who would grind the grains for the farmers, in return for a fee. Many of the
farmers had little if any money, and so it was common for the miller to take
some of the resultant flour in trade, which the miller would either use
themselves, or sell.
Often, this ended up with the miller having a surplus of grain that would go
bad if it wasn't used in a timely manner. So an easy way of not only
preserving the flour, but also providing an alternative product, was to
ferment, and then distill the grain... producing whiskey.
One of the results of this, is that the whiskeys that were being produced in
Canada were a fairly varied blend of different ingredients.
Now back to the US... and a jump in time to 1919... Prohibition.
American Rye whiskey was still the most popular whiskey in the states... but
now, it was illegal to make or sell it. The distillers went underground. On
the east coast, it was harder to go underground, and so most distillers
switched to other businesses. In the mid west however it was easier to hide.
In Canada hosever, there wasn't any need to hide, and they were more than
happy to help sell their products to their thirsty neighbors to the south.
This brought a lot of Canadian Whisky into America, where we were still in the
habit of interchanging "Whiskey" and "Rye".
When Prohibition ended, it still took a lot of time for the American
distillers to bring their product back. Most of the eastern distillers were
out of business... having long since converted to other ventures. The mid-west
distillers were able to re-open their plants and start production of what they
new best... corn based whiskies, which were also known as Bourbon.
And thus today, the most common American Whiskey is Bourbon instead of Rye.
And Canadian Whisky is not Rye at all, althoug many people continue to
mistakenly call it that.
Bourbon has to be made from at least 51% corn, with wheat, rye, and other
grains making up the rest of the mashbill.
Rye has to be made from at least 51% rye, with corn, wheat, etc...
...there are other requirements, aging, barrels, etc, as well... but I think
I've alreay taken too long to answer your simple question.
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