Woodford is a delicious sipping bourbon, and definitely a step up from Jim Beam and Bulleit. Woodford also goes great with a pipe or cigar. If you really want to splurge on a top shelf bourbon, I would recommend Blantans. It is amazing!
I have a beater briar that I started cleaning this way to no ill effect. I still clean my pipes using grain alcohol (mostly out of habit), but washing out the bowl with water seems to work just fine. I would probably not do this with a cob though, unless I was planning to eat the corn.