🥃 The Legal Evolution of American Whiskey — From Rye to Bourbon to Single Malt 🍸🏴‍☠️🍍 The first truly American whiskey was rye from the Northeast. In Pennsylvania, Maryland, and New York, rye grew better than corn, and by the late 18th century it was the dominant style. As settlers moved west into the Ohio Valley and Kentucky, corn took over, and a new style emerged — what would later become bourbon. Early bourbon-style whiskey developed across the Ohio River region, with Kentucky quickly be