What is Bourbon (and how is it different from Scotch)?

And for that matter, whither Rye and Tennessee whiskey

Hello whisky friends,

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As romantically entwined in the everyday life of ordinary Americans as Bruce Springsteen, the ball game and Sunday BBQs, American whiskey has a storied past and a richly varied quality that instantly belies this cliche.

What began as a way for dirt-poor early American farmers to scratch a living from their fields has become one of the world’s great drinks.

Whiskey has been distilled in America since the late 18th century, brought over to present-day Kentucky by Scots, Scots-Irish, and other settlers (including English, Irish, Welsh, German, and French) who set up farmsteads in the state. Armed with these skills, the settlers began using European distillation techniques on New World crops (corn) as well as cultivating imported crops such as rye and barley, which took well to the land in what we know call Pennsylvania, New York and Maryland.