American whiskeys may often be categorised as pertaining to toastiness, spice and vanilla sweetness. This is in large part due to the generous use of new charred oak (predominant in most styles of US whiskey and used exclusively in the production of bourbon), which lends stunning sweet flavours such as vanillins, and other flavour compounds.
Rye Whisky is made with a mashbill that mainly features rye. The result of this is a more spicy whiskeywith lots of complexity. Great examples include Sazerac Rye whiskey
Tennessee whiskies are essentially bourbons which undergo the "Lincoln County Process", developed by the world famous Jack Daniel's. This involves filtering the spirit through sugar maple charcoal.