American and Canadian Whiskeys North
American whiskeys are produced mainly from
the New World’s indigenous grain, maize.
The most prominent corn whiskey is bourbon,
which is named for a county in Kentucky
where maize grew well in colonial times, and
where there was abundant water for both
mashing the grains and cooling the distillate.
Food Words : Aperitif, Digestif
These French words describe two functions
attributed to concentrated alcohols in the
Middle Ages, ideas that live on in both the
words and drinking habits. Aperitif comes
from an Indo-European root meaning “to
uncover, to open,” and is a drink to be had
before a meal in order to open our system
to the nourishment to come. Digestif
comes from an ancient root meaning “to
act, to do,” and names a drink for the end
of the meal that will stimulate our system
to assimilate the meal’s nourishment.