Scotch, Bourbon, Rye

For those sipping during the big game, this should provide a conversation starter. "If you are a cognac, you have to be made in the Cognac region. If you are a champagne, you have to be made in the Champagne region. It is the same for scotch. Single-malt scotch whisky is made at a single distillery, exclusively from malted barley, and must be aged for at least three years in oak casks.
Bourbon and rye are native American spirits. Aside from the point of origin, what differentiates variants of whiskey (Irish and Americans), or whisky (Scots) is the 'mash bill', or list of ingredients used to make it.

Bourbon in the US must have 51% or more corn, and the rest of the mash bill is traditionally rye and malted barley. All bourbon is whiskey but not all whiskey is bourbon.


Rye whiskey must have 51% or more rye, and the rest is usually corn and malted barley.

In addition, both must be aged in brand new American oak barrels.

What's in a Name, Jim Beam

Jim Beam didn’t actually start the distillery that bears his name. His great-grandfather Jacob Beam opened the distillery in 1788 and started selling his first barrels of whiskey in 1795.

In those days, the whiskey went by the name of “Old Tub.” Jacob Beam handed down the distillery to his son David Beam, who in turn passed it to his son David M. Beam, who passed it to his son, Colonel James Beauregard Beam, in 1894.

He was 30 years old when he took over the family business and ran the distillery until Prohibition shut him down. Following repeal in 1933, Jim built a distillery and resurrected the Old Tub brand and also added a bourbon simply called Jim Beam.