Whiskey
Every whiskey in the shop on one shelf: bourbon, rye, scotch, Irish, Japanese, Canadian, American single malt and the blends. The categories below are legal definitions rather than flavour descriptions, which is why two bottles labelled the same can taste nothing alike. Here is what each word actually promises.
1 bottles match
The categories are rules about making, not about taste
Almost every whiskey word on a label is a production standard. It tells you where the spirit was made, what grain went in, what wood it sat in and for how long. It does not tell you whether you will like it. That gap is the single most useful thing to understand before you spend money on a bottle you have not tasted.
Grain draws the first line
[Bourbon](/collections/bourbon) is at least 51% corn and must go into new charred oak. [Rye whiskey](/collections/rye) is at least 51% rye. Both are American, both are majority one grain, and the rest of the recipe is the distiller's choice. That choice is where the character comes from, which is why we publish the mashbill wherever the distiller states one.
Within bourbon the second grain splits it again. When wheat does the flavouring you get [wheated bourbon](/collections/wheated-bourbon), softer and rounder. When rye is pushed well past the usual seasoning you get [high rye bourbon](/collections/high-rye-bourbon), drier and peppery. Neither is a legal category, so no label has to use the words.
Place draws the second
Scotch is whisky made in Scotland and aged at least three years. Irish whiskey is made in Ireland, also three years minimum. Japanese whisky has only had an enforceable standard since 2021, which requires that it is fermented, distilled and aged in Japan. Canadian whisky needs three years in Canada. Tennessee whiskey meets every bourbon requirement and then adds charcoal filtering before the barrel.
[Scotch](/collections/scotch) is the deepest of those here by some distance.
What is in the bottle draws the third
A single malt is malted barley from one distillery. [American single malt](/collections/american-single-malt) became a legal category in the United States in January 2025, with the same single-distillery and all-malt requirements Scotland has used for generations.
A blend is the opposite, and the word hides two very different things. [Blended whiskey](/collections/blended-whiskey) in the United States needs only 20% straight whiskey, and the remaining 80% may be neutral spirit. "A blend of straight whiskies" permits no neutral spirit at all. Same shelf, same word, nothing alike.
Whiskey or whisky
Both spellings are correct and neither is a rule. The convention is that the United States and Ireland write whiskey, while Scotland, Canada and Japan write whisky. Plenty of American distilleries ignore it: Maker's Mark and George Dickel both put whisky on the label. If a bottle's spelling seems wrong, it is a house style choice and not a mistake.
Where to start
If you already know the style, go straight to it above. If you do not, the shortest route to something you will remember is [All Single Barrels](/collections/all-single-barrels). A single barrel is one barrel bottled on its own rather than blended to a house profile, so it tastes of that specific cask instead of the brand's average. It also cannot be reordered, which is the trade-off.
What is the difference between whiskey and whisky?
Only spelling, and it is a convention rather than a rule. The United States and Ireland generally write whiskey; Scotland, Canada and Japan write whisky. Several American distilleries use whisky anyway, including Maker's Mark and George Dickel, so the spelling tells you about the producer's house style and not about the liquid.
Is bourbon a whiskey?
Yes. Bourbon is a type of American whiskey defined by its recipe and its wood: at least 51% corn, aged in new charred oak containers, made in the United States. Every bourbon is a whiskey, and most whiskey is not bourbon.
What is the difference between bourbon and rye?
The majority grain. Bourbon is at least 51% corn and rye whiskey is at least 51% rye. In the glass corn tends to read as sweetness and caramel while rye reads as pepper, dill and a drier finish, but the proportions vary enormously inside both categories, so the mashbill is more informative than the category name.
What does single barrel mean?
That the whiskey came from one barrel and was bottled on its own instead of being blended with others to hit a consistent house profile. One barrel yields roughly 150 to 250 bottles depending on how much the wood absorbed. The upside is that it tastes of that specific cask; the downside is that it cannot be made again.
How long does whiskey have to be aged?
It depends on the category. Scotch, Irish, Japanese and Canadian whisky all require a minimum of three years. Bourbon has no minimum at all unless the label says straight, which requires two years. So an age statement is worth more than a category name when you are judging maturity.
Does whiskey go bad after opening?
It does not spoil, but it does change. Oxygen slowly flattens the aroma once a bottle is part empty, which is most noticeable on a bottle sitting below the halfway mark for a year or more. Keep it upright, out of sunlight and at room temperature, and it will hold for years rather than months.