United States

America's native spirit by act of Congress: a corn-rich whiskey aged in brand-new charred oak, tasting of vanilla, caramel and frontier sunshine. Ingredients: a mash of at least 51% corn (the rest rye, wheat and malted barley), limestone-filtered Kentucky water, yeast. Method: 1) Ferment and distill the sweet corn mash. 2) Age in new, charred oak barrels — the char cracks the wood and gives bourbon its color and its vanilla-caramel soul; by law the barrels are used only once. 3) Serve neat, over one large ice cube, or in a classic cocktail. The experience: sweet corn up front, then caramel, vanilla, baking spice and warm oak. History: Kentucky's distillers — many of Scots-Irish descent — built bourbon along the Ohio River in the late 1700s; in 1964 Congress declared it “a distinctive product of the United States.”

The original cocktail — quite literally: the first written definition of the word “cocktail” in 1806 describes exactly this drink. Ingredients: bourbon or rye whiskey, a sugar cube or rich syrup, Angostura bitters, an orange peel, ice. Method: 1) Soak the sugar with bitters and a splash of water in a tumbler and stir to dissolve. 2) Add the whiskey and a large ice cube; stir until cold and silky. 3) Express the orange peel over the glass and drop it in. The experience: spirit-forward and timeless — whiskey deepened, not disguised, with citrus oils glowing over warm spice. History: through the 1800s this was simply how a cocktail was made; when bartenders began adding everything else, traditionalists demanded theirs “old-fashioned.” Legend also ties it to Louisville's Pendennis Club in the 1880s — either way, it never went out of style.

The taste of the Kentucky Derby: bourbon and mint over a mountain of crushed ice, sweating in a silver cup. Ingredients: Kentucky bourbon, fresh mint leaves, sugar or syrup, crushed ice — and, traditionally, a silver or pewter julep cup. Method: 1) Gently muddle mint with sugar in the cup — bruise, don't tear. 2) Add bourbon and fill the cup heaped with crushed ice. 3) Stir until the cup frosts, then crown with a fragrant bouquet of mint and a short straw, so your nose is in the mint as you sip. The experience: arctic-cold, bracingly minty, with bourbon's caramel warmth rising underneath. History: juleps were iced southern refreshers long before they met the racetrack; the Mint Julep has been the Kentucky Derby's signature drink since 1939, with well over a hundred thousand served across Derby weekend at Churchill Downs.