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These, what started off as homegrown, whiskies have pushed their way into the market by
stamping it with the seal of patriotism. "Only bourbon proudly bears the stamp of Made in
America... The next time you have some bourbon, you're not only drinking something
wonderful, you're doing your patriotic duty as well at least as far as we distillers are
concerned" (Noe III 73). Whiskey was invented with ideals of a white southern man in mind.
"Bourbon is of particular importance in the study of white southern masculinity because of
its distinctly constructed white southern maleness" (McKeithan 10). Bourbon became a
staple in the south so much so that the Ohio River en route to New Orleans and along the
Louisville and Nashville Railroad was dubbed the Bourbon Belt. Bourbon was something that
embodied masculinity of the typical workingman; it literally rose out of the soil of the
region into its culture. Distilled from fermented corn Bourbon related well to the
workingman, he felt as if he was drinking the product of his own creation. Bourbon
drinkers would feel a sense of pride through the process of inebriation. Bourbon catered
to the white southern male because they were seen as the tough men that "built" our
country and Bourbon was so to speak, their reward. This whiskey hailed the consumer into
believing the 'bite' that the beverage had was synonymous to that of the males who were
drinking it. The more bite the whiskey had the manlier you were.
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