Disclosure: Maker's Mark paid for our travel and expenses to visit the distillery outside of Louisville, Ky.

You probably don't spend a lot of time at your neighborhood bar considering the origins of your booze of choice. But chances are good there's an interesting story behind your cocktail, be it a gin martini or a Jack and Coke.

We recently had the opportunity to visit the distillery an hour and a half outside Louisville, Ky., where Maker's Mark bourbon is made.

The distillery still runs largely as it did when it sold its first bottle back in 1956. The recipe is the same, as is much of the machinery. Of course, there have been a few changes: a water wheel no longer powers the plant, for one.

Greg Davis, the master distiller who oversees everything related to the production of whisky, gave us the complete rundown on how Maker's Mark is produced, from the locally sourced corn and soft red winter wheat to the charring of the white oak barrels where the whisky ages.

He also taught us the right way to taste whisky.