LIVING

A complete list of every president’s favorite drink

By Mark Will-Weber October 18, 2014 | 3:33pm | Updated

Founding Father or one-termer, Democrat or Republican, almost every president shared something in common: They drank.

In his new book, “Mint Juleps with Teddy Roosevelt: The Complete History of Presidential Drinking” (Regnery), journalist Mark Will-Weber
tells the history of presidency through booze. Here, he tells The Post what the favorite tipple was for every chief executive.
 George Washington, John Adams and Thomas Jefferson
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George Washington
Washington sold whiskey (made near Mount Vernon), but he probably rarely, if ever, drank it. The
formula was about 60 percent rye, 3 percent corn and a very meager amount of malted barley. As
for his favorite drink — he loved dark porter (laced with molasses) that was made in Philadelphia.

John Adams
Adams loved alcohol, starting almost every morning with a hard cider. Then porter beer, rum and
copious amounts of Madeira.

Thomas Jefferson
Jefferson’s huge wine purchases helped bring him to the brink of financial ruin.

James Madison
Champagne may have been among his favorites, but he once advised guests that it “was the most
delightful wine when drank in moderation, but that more than a few glasses always produced a
headache the next day.”

James Madison was a champagne fan.

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 (Clockwise from top left) James Monroe, John Quincy Adams, Martin Van Buren and Andrew Jackson. Van
Buren earned himself the nickname “Blue Whiskey Van.”
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James Monroe
A small scandal occurred during Monroe’s stint in the Executive Mansion when 1,200 bottles of
Burgundy and Champagne from France were charged to an account that Congress had earmarked for
furniture.

John Quincy Adams

There are some claims that JQA once conducted a blind taste test of 14 different kinds of Madeira and
correctly identified 11 of them.

Andrew Jackson
When he wasn’t fighting Indians or the British, the Hero of New Orleans made and sold whiskey. He
offered and drank whiskey as a matter of social routine when guests visited him.

Martin Van Buren

Drank so much whiskey that it earned him a nickname, “Blue Whiskey Van.” He also enjoyed something
called Schiedam (a gin-like Dutch specialty unique to New York’s Hudson River Valley).
“Mint Juleps with Teddy Roosevelt:
The Complete History of Presidential
Drinking” by Mark Will-Weber
(Regnery)
 William Henry Harrison, John Tyler and James K. Polk
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William Henry Harrison

“Old Tipp” rode to the White House on the strength of the “Long Cabin and Hard Cider” campaign in 1840.

John Tyler
In a letter to his daughter, Tyler recorded a dinner visit to President and Mrs. Madison,
noting: “They have good drink . . . Champagne . . . of which you know I am very fond.”

James K. Polk
Polk drank very modest amounts of wine, Champagne, and brandy.

Zachary Taylor
During the Mexican War, a political aide reportedly visited to inform Taylor that the
Whig party wished to nominate him for president. Taylor allegedly replied: “Stop your
nonsense and drink your whiskey!”
Zachary Taylor (left) and Millard Fillmore. Fillmore was a
Millard Fillmore lightweight.
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Fillmore rarely drank wine or served it to others. However, this lightweight once
admitted sampling enough old Madeira that he was “slightly fuddled.”

Franklin Pierce
 Pierce was our drunkest president!
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Pierce drank a lot of everything and died of cirrhosis of the liver at age 65. When Democrats failed to support him for re-election in 1856, he
allegedly said: “What can an ex-president of the United States do except get drunk?”

(From left) James Buchanan, Andrew Johnson, Ulysses S. Grant and Rutherford B. Hayes. Johnson showed up
wasted for his vice presidential inauguration.
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James Buchanan
A friend of his once wrote: “The Madeira and sherry that he has consumed would fill more than one old cellar.”

Abraham Lincoln
One of our driest presidents, he rarely if ever drank.
Andrew Johnson
Lincoln and other political big shots were appalled when Johnson showed up loaded
(and slurring his words) for his vice presidential inauguration in 1865; he had tried to
treat a cold with whiskey.

Ulysses S. Grant
When Grant did drink, he did not do it well. He reportedly suffered from low tolerance. In
office, one of Grant’s White House entertaining bills included $1,800 for Champagne
alone.

Rutherford B. Hayes
His wife, “Lemonade Lucy,” pushed for a no-booze White House. Staffers sympathetic to
visitors who might want some alcohol tried to infuse some oranges in the punch with
rum — but Hayes claims to have discovered the ploy and substituted rum flavoring for
the real stuff!

Honest Abe hardly ever drank.

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(From left) James Garfield, Chester A. Arthur and Grover Cleveland. Cleveland once vowed that he would drink
only four beers a day.
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James Garfield
A friend of Garfield’s, Thomas Donaldson, once noted in his diary: “Garfield . . . liked beer and drank but little else.”

Chester A. Arthur
When a representative of the Temperance movement tried to pressure Arthur into a no-liquor policy in the White House, he thundered:
“Madam, I may be the president of the United States, but what I do with my private life is my own damned business!”

Grover Cleveland
Grover mostly drank beer, and lots of it. He and a fellow politician once took a vow to hold themselves to four beers a day. When they found
this too arduous a task, they simply switched to larger beer steins.

(From left) Benjamin Harrison, Teddy Roosevelt and William Howard Taft. Roosevelt was a fan of mint juleps.
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Benjamin Harrison
Benjamin leaned more toward God than Demon Alcohol.

William McKinley
A drink popular during his election campaign was called McKinley’s Delight:
3 oz. rye whiskey (shoot for at least 100 proof)
1 oz. sweet vermouth
2 dashes of cherry brandy
1 dash absinthe

Teddy Roosevelt
Teddy liked mint juleps and used them to entice his cabinet to come play tennis with him at the
White House. He used fresh mint from the White House garden:
10 to 12 fresh mint leaves “muddled” with a splash of water and a sugar cube
2 or 3 oz. of rye whiskey
¼ oz. of brandy
Sprig or two of fresh mint as a garnish

William Howard Taft

Because of his size, people might assume the 300-pound-plus Taft drank a lot. He did not,
especially when he was in the White House and was trying to lose weight. He did, on occasion,
celebrate with a glass of Champagne.
William McKinley had a drink named after him
during his campaign.
Woodrow Wilson Getty Images
 Woodrow Wilson’s campaign slogan came from a popular whiskey brand.
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Wilson loved Scotch. His campaign song — “Wilson! That’s All!” — actually came from a brand of whiskey that was popular early in the 20th
century.

Warren G. Harding and Calvin Coolidge. Harding was president during Prohibition.
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Warren G. Harding
Even though Harding was president during Prohibition — and it was unlawful to transport liquor
— he habitually stashed a bottle of whiskey in his golf bag and thought nothing of taking a pop
before he teed up. (He rarely broke 100, so that might explain it.)

Calvin Coolidge
“Silent Cal” drank very little, but he was very fond of Tokay wine. The Coolidge Cooler was
concocted by Vermont Spirits on Cal’s birthday:
1.5 oz. of Vermont White vodka
½ oz. of American whiskey
2 oz. of orange juice
Club soda

Herbert Hoover
Hoover supposedly had a fantastic wine collection, but his wife allegedly dumped it down the
drain when Prohibition hit. While suffering from pneumonia at the age of 80, he did have one
request — a good, dry martini.

Herbert Hoover pours a jug and smokes a

cigar in 1935.
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Franklin D. Roosevelt and Harry Truman. Truman was a bourbon man.

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Franklin D. Roosevelt
FDR is most associated with cocktails. He enjoyed mixing gin-based martinis (and occasionally
whiskey-based Manhattans). His favorite thing to sip while sailing was the Bermuda Rum Swizzle:
2 oz. dark rum
1 oz. lime juice
1 oz. orange juice
1 generous dash of Falernum (a sweet syrup)

Harry Truman
Truman loved bourbon and quite often knocked down a shot of it in the morning, part of his routine
that also involved a brisk walk and a rubdown. He also liked a very strong Old Fashioned and would
complain if his staff made it too weak.
Dwight D. Eisenhower
Because of several heart attacks (probably due to his habitual chain-smoking), Ike was limited to just
a few drinks by his doc. He typically chose Scotch, and sometimes would overrule his doctor and
have a second one.

Eisenhower enjoying a drink at his

Gettysburg home.
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John F. Kennedy and Lyndon B. Johnson. Johnson drank his whiskey out of a plastic cup.
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John F. Kennedy
JFK drank lots of different stuff, so it’s hard to pick a favorite. Some were trendy drinks of the rich — daiquiris, Bloody Marys, and
(considered at the time a big deal because it was imported) Heineken beer.

Lyndon B. Johnson
LBJ loved Scotch whiskey and enjoyed driving (at high speeds) around his Texas ranch while drinking it out of a plastic cup.
 (From left) Richard Nixon, Ronald Reagan, Gerald Ford and Jimmy Carter toast inside the White House in 1992.
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Richard Nixon
Nixon would drink expensive bottles of Chateau Lafite Rothschild (costing hundreds of dollars); at the same time, he instructed his staff to
serve mediocre red wine to his guests — with towels wrapped around the bottle’s label so they did not know what they were getting. Tricky
Dick indeed!

Gerald Ford
Ford grew accustomed to a few martinis, sometimes even at lunch, when he was in the
House of Representatives. When he became president in the aftermath of Watergate,
Ford’s staff had to suggest he cut back.

Jimmy Carter
Carter drank very sparingly. When he had an arms summit with Soviet leaders, Carter
arranged to get a very small glass of white wine for the obligatory toasts — so he could
avoid downing powerful Russian vodka.

Ronald Reagan
Reagan liked California wines and an occasional Orange Blossom Special made with
vodka:
1 oz. (or slightly less in Reagan’s case) vodka
1 oz. of either grenadine or sweet vermouth
2 oz. fresh orange juice
All brought together in a barroom glass filled with ice. Nixon drank fancy bottles of champagne.
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 George H.W. Bush and Bill Clinton in 2005. Bush wasn’t picky with his alcohol.
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George H.W. Bush

“41” drank a little bit of everything, including beer and vodka martinis.

William Clinton
As a scholar at Oxford, Clinton reportedly indulged in the Snakebite:
8 oz. hard cider
8 oz. lager beer
(Add ¼ oz. black currant liqueur for a Snakebite variation the Brits
call Diesel.)

President Barack Obama and George W. Bush. Obama’s a beer guy.

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George W. Bush
Bush “retired” from drinking years before he became president.

Barack Obama
The current president likes beer. The Executive Mansion also features White House Honey Ale (with honey from the White House hives) for
special guests.

FILED UNDER ALCOHOL, BOOKS, DRINKING, HISTORY, US PRESIDENTS

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