Is Bourbon or other whiskey a “food” for purposes of Shalach Manos. I’m sure nobody ever returned a gift of Bourbon, but that does not answer the question.
It definitely is considered a manah because it is made from grain. The question would be if arak or some other types of non food based liquors would count
I don’t consider bourbon to be a food but Scotch is one of my favorite foods. Bottles of any single malt Scotch are much appreciated as shloch manos. For the 2nd item kichel or herring will do, anything except p’tacha.
Water is not a manah, even though we make a bracha on water. I wonder whether something with little to no nutrition can be counted as a manah. Tequila, arak, 96, etc might not be enough to be yotzeh
Bourbon and scotch have no nutritional value. They are, however, made from things that do have nutritional value, which is what I think you meant. If it is, then arak is sometimes made from rice, and I think the agave plant is edible as well. 96 wouldn’t be considered a min, because the roiv of it is pure alcohol.