There are many great creations that have come out of the United States: yellow school buses shaped like basketballs and chocolate chip cookies for example. But perhaps the greatest American invention of all (depending on who you ask of course) is bourbon whiskey. Bourbon is richly sweet and velvety smooth — perfect for shaking into a whiskey sour stirring into a Manhattan or simply enjoying on its own.
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This is how bourbon is actually made
The words bourbon and whiskey are often used interchangeably but that’s not entirely correct. To quote marathon champ Des Linden at a press conference “Bourbon is whiskey Larry.” Whiskey is a broad category of spirits that encompasses many different types including bourbon rye Irish Scotch whiskey Japanese whisky and more. The spirits are made all over the world and the type of grain used varies by region and whiskey style but all whiskeys have two things in common: they must be distilled from grains and they must be aged in oak barrels.
Because whiskey was one of the first liquors distilled in the United States many drinks in the American cocktail canon have bourbon as a star. Kentucky started out as the bourbon capital of the United States but today bourbon can be made anywhere in America as long as it's made from at least 51% corn.
Bourbon is distilled from a combination of grain yeast and water. The “mash” is the crushed grain left over from the fermentation process and the “mash bill” is the mix of grains used in the whiskey making process. Each whiskey has its own unique mash bill depending on the distiller’s preferences. In the case of bourbon the mash bill must contain at least 51% corn although most bourbons on the market contain 60 to 86% corn. Other common grains used in the mash bill include rye wheat and barley.
