There are two principal varieties of American whisky. The first of these is made chiefly from Indian corn. There is just enough malt used with it to convert the starch or Indian corn into sugar. The other ingredient is rye, the starch of which is also converted into sugar by malt. When a corn and rye whisky is made in Kentucky it is called Bourbon. Roughly speaking the average composition of a mash for a bourbon whisky is Indian corn 65 percent, rye 20 percent, and malt 15 percent. There are many variations from this formula, but it may be regarded as a type of the raw materials from which the bourbon whiskies are made.

There is another variety of whisky made from Indian corn, which is known as corn whisky. Corn whisky is supposed to be made from corn alone. The Indian corn is sprouted, in other words, malted, by which process the starch therein is converted into sugar, then mashed, fermented and distilled. There is probably very little pure corn whisky made in the United States today. The corn whisky is commonly made by mixing Indian corn with barley malt, thus converting the starch into sugar. Corn whisky is often drunk fresh, that is, without being stored in wood, hence it is nearly colorless, like all freshly distilled whisky. It is the chief kind of whisky made by "Moonshiners."

The other important variety of whisky manufactured in the United States is rye. There is, I believe, very little pure rye whisky made in the United States, that is, whisky made from malted rye.