Bourbon

There’s actually a lot of laws surrounding the practices needed to call a bourbon a bourbon. The main of these being it must consistent of at least 51% corn and be aged in new oak barrels. As these barrels cannot be used again after the ageing process, they are often sold to whiskey, wine or beer produces adding that little touch of bourbon flavour to whatever the next producer creates.

Tennessee Whiskey

Think your classic Jack Daniels - it’s essentially a bourbon that’s been charcoal filtered.

Rye

Alike with bourbon, rye whiskey had strict guidelines around its production, being it must be made with at least 51% rye grains. Rye whiskey was actually the most predominate whiskey in early in early America as rye was the leading grain grown. This whiskey’s taste has a little bit of spice to it and is commonly used in whiskey centred cocktails.

We’d wager this if the country you think of when you hear ‘whisky’ (might have something to do with the very catchy ‘Scotch’ abbreviation) and for good reason! Scotland is renowned for its major whisky producing regions - the Highlands, Speyside, the Lowlands, the Islands and Islay. Scotland’s regions vary in both peat levels and sweetness, creating something unique and diverse from each distillery. Regardless of where the whisky is made, is it a necessity that Scotch be aged in oak casks for a minimum of three years within the country, and this is more often than not in old bourbon or sherry casks (cheers USA).

Quite on par with Scotland, Ireland is one of the oldest whiskey producing counties in the world. Irish whiskey requires malted or unmalted barley only as its grain base to qualify as ‘Irish Whiskey’. This spirit also needs to be aged in Ireland in used oak barrels for a minimum of three years.

This generally leads to a lighter taste on the palate than its international counterparts. Critics say the best of the bunch are produced in a single pot still, but modern day distilleries in Ireland are constantly experimenting with different ageing and malting techniques.

Japanese whisky is known as quite the trendy one in the community as of late - that’s probably why a lot of it is on the higher scale concerning prices. This take on whisky is most alike to Scotch, given its vast variety in levels of peat and fruity notes used across the range, which makes sense considering many notable Japanese whisky producers learnt how to do so in Scotland. The key differences between the two lie in Japan’s free lance take on whisky as there are no legal definitions needed to class the spirit as Japanese whisky as long as it’s been made in Japan.

Canadian whisky was once what was hot in the USA, but dropped off the radar during prohibition and was overtaken by the multiple distilleries that opened in the short time after. Canadian whisky is predominately made with rye, although there are a large amount of producers using corn, creating a whisky alike to bourbon. To be classified as a Canadian whisky, it only needs to be produced and aged for 3 years within the country. Canadian whisky using rye has a spicy and fruit taste on the palate and those using corn have sweet toffee and vanilla notes.