Whiskey
A bottle can legally call itself bourbon only if it's made in America — but nothing requires it to be made in Kentucky, despite what most people assume.
Craft Beer
One change to US federal law in 1978 is the reason your neighborhood brewery exists at all.
Cocktails
Prohibition tried to end American drinking but arguably sent its bartenders, and their cocktails, off to London and Paris.
Coffee
The world's most popular ritual is also one of its most quietly complicated crops.
Tea Culture
Green, black, white, and oolong tea all come from one plant; processing does most of the flavor work.
Espresso
A tiny, intense coffee made by forcing hot water through a puck of grounds in about half a minute, and the base of nearly every cafe menu.
Wine
It's fermented grape juice, and yet somehow an entire industry exists around swirling it, sniffing it, and arguing about it.