Why is everything whiskey?

So, to be fair, I’ve never been particularly educated on alcohol. When I was first drinking age, I focused on vodka because I wasn’t a fan of beer. Mostly Smirnoff Ice and related coolers.

But lately I’ve taken an interest in learning more about the world of alcohol and I am struck by how often something is just whiskey under a different name. 😂

Like, I used to think there was all these entirely different drinks but I’m understanding more and more that a lot of the big names I’ve heard for years like Bourbon, Scotch, Rye, etc. are just a type of whiskey. Even Baileys apparently is just like whiskey, sugar and cream it seems like… I thought I had never drank whiskey but I was drinking Baileys for years without even knowing what it was.

I’m just surprised so many drinks are just whiskey from specific places using specific techniques. Whereas vodka has different variants too but all of them are called vodka. I wonder why it’s like that.