Tabasco Sauce

Tabasco Sauce is a brand of hot sauce made from the Tabasco chili pepper that grow mostly in the Gulf Coast of Mexico. It is one of the known highly pungent and hot pepper like the Naga Jalokia of India. Tabasco Sauce is made with just three ingredients - peppers, salt and vinegar. The red pepper mash in aged in white oak barrels and the long aging process renders the complex flavour to this hot sauce.
It is an American brand, produced by the Mcilhenny Company of Avery Islands, Southern Louisiana. In drink mixing, Tabasco is popularly known to be an ingredient in the Bloody Mary cocktail and is used in many cocktail classics, the sauce simply enhances the flavour of every drink and adds the extra kick to every sip.

Cola

Cola in general is a carbonated soft drink flavoured with vanilla,cinnamon, nutmeg, citrus oils and other flavourings and has been popular ever since it's invention by Pharmacist John Pemberton in 1886.

Cola gets it's name from the Kola Nut from which a Cola gets it's caffeine, the original recipe of Pemberton contained cocaine from coca leaves too, and was an non-alcoholic wine. Since it's invention the recipe has been closely guarded and yet replicated by many other brands of which, Pepsi Cola remain to be the major competition of Coca Cola invented and trade marked by Pemberton.

Cola being sweet and having a refreshing flavour profile that includes vanilla on top to a citrus taste with complex flavours of nutmeg, cinnamon and other very oriental herbs, it in itself is a great mixer for so many spirits. Best of course is the neutral Vodka but who doesn't want a Rom and Coca Cola? and have not heard the Andrew Sister's Song Rum and Coca Cola

Note: If you are one of those that are clinically dependent on Coca Cola or Cola in general and drink litres of Cola per day, the SodaStream Diet Cola will be a great alternative for you. It has less sugar and uses sucralose instead of aspartame used in Diet Cola. Each bottle makes 9 litres of Cola. Note that you need the Sodastream Sparkling Water Maker for this. But it's worth the money.

Red Wine

Red wine is a table wine made from dark grape varieties. There are around twenty different grape varieties that are extremely popular around the world, while grape varieties such as Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot and Pinot Noir get most of the attention from connoisseurs. The other popular grapes are Syrah ( or Siraz ) of the Rhone Valley of France, Malbec the national grape variety of Argentina, Grenache of Spain, Sangiovese grapes of Italy, Tempranillo the noble grapes of Spain and many more. Read more on them here.

Younger wines are usually an intense violet, while matured wines are brick red and ild wines are brown. The colour of the wine comes from the anthocyan pigments in the skin of the grapes, and thus although the juice of these purle grapes is greenish-white. the colour red is extracted from the skin of the grapes.

Wines are fermented alcoholic beverages and thus there are several stages of fermenting the pressed juice obtained from the fruit must, then allowing a second fermentation known as Malolactic fermentation, a process where certain bacteria is allowed to convert malic acid present in grape juice into lactic acid. This is followed by a racking stage where the lees ( yeast and other solid sediments ) is separated from the wine. Then ready wine is then aged and some pass through a stage of filtration for better clarity.

Bourbon

American's don't need to be lectured on Bourbon, but still, let's put it in record like all other spirits. A Bourbon in American spirit is a barrel-aged distilled liquor made primarily from corn. The name might have been derived from the French Bourbon dynasty, or from Bourbon County in Kentucky, or Bourbon Street in New Orleans, both named after the French Dynasty.

Technically, most whiskey made in America are legally classified as Bourbon, although Bourbon is in spirit a Southern Whiskey with special connection to Kentucky. Note than although Tennessee Whiskey is classified as Bourbon, Tennessee distilleries do not prefer their whiskey to be unique and referred to as Tennessee Whiskey only.

Distilling came to Kentucky in the late 18rth Century with the Scots, Scot-Irish and other settlers including English, Welsh, German and French, and they brought with them their distilling techniques and ageing processes in charred oak barrels. The charring is what gives the Bourbon the brownish colour and distinctive taste.

To be a legal Bourbon, a whiskey has to meet the following criteria

Produced in the United States and Territories (Puerto Rico) and the District of Columbia
Made from a grain mixture that is at least 51% corn
Aged in new, charred oak containers
Distilled to no more than 160 (U.S.) proof (80% alcohol by volume)
Entered into the container for aging at no more than 125 proof (62.5% alcohol by volume)
Bottled (like other whiskeys) at 80 proof or more (40% alcohol by volume)