Originating in Bourbon County, Kentucky, bourbon is whiskey distilled from sour mash containing at least 51 percent corn. While it now comes from other regions, only Kentucky bourbon is considered the real McCoy.

Aged for about four or five years in charred oak casks, bourbon gives you a sock in the mouth. The finer the bourbon, the more full-bodied the taste and less caustic the introduction.

Rumor has it that a Kentucky Baptist minister named Elijah Craig was the first to distill bourbon. The South has maintained its hold on this grog's lore to the extent that even its world-famous distilling neighbor, Jack Daniels, tips its hat to tradition and refrains from ever referring to its sour mash whiskey as bourbon.