What did Presidents Drink

What Did Presidents Drink?

 

Several of our Presidents have enjoyed Whiskey. Woodrow Wilson was among them. He tried to veto the Volstead Act that brought Prohibition. He liked Scotch & soda. The inventory of his things shipped home when he left the White House to his home included a cask of Scotch Whiskey.

 

Warren Harding liked his Whiskey while playing golf or poker. It was during Prohibition. His Attorney General, Harry Daugherty, saw to it that his bar was well stocked with illegal liquor that had been seized in government raids.

 

Dwight Eisenhower got to like Scotch during his time in Europe as Supreme Allied Commander. He preferred Chivas Regal or Pinch.

 

John Kennedy was not a Scotch drinker but his family fortune was built in a large part on imports of Scotch.

 

Lyndon Johnson's favorite drink was Cutty Sark. His Senate aide, Robert Baker, noted that he could finish two fifths of Cutty in an evening. When he traveled, cases of Cutty went along. After he left the Presidency the Secret Service carried his Scotch in a car that followed his limo.

 

The earliest recorded shipment of Scotch to the White House was in 1891. Andrew Carnegie asked John Dewar & Sons to send a cask to Benjamin Harrison. The 18 gallon cask landed in New York and caused a controversy. American distillers were upset. The New York Times said ‘There are many men who… will warmly resent his possession and consumption of foreign whiskey.”

 

William Henry Harrison won election in 1840 partially by handing out bottles of whiskey shaped like log cabins. Today the empty bottles sell for $600 to $1,000.

 

President elect Trump has a private label Scotch for sale at his Trump International Golf Links in Scotland. It's a 26 year old single malt from Glen Donach Distillery in Aberdeenshire.

 

Some Presidents preferred Beer, Porter, or Ale.

George Washington liked Porter. He had to brew enough to supply his family, guests, and servants. His recipe made 30 gallons at a time. When Washington first ran for the Virginia House of Burgesses it is said each vote cost him a half gallon of Whiskey.

 

John Adams lived to 90 in a time when life expectancy was 35. He started the day with Cider but switched to Porter during the day, and finished the evening with Madeira.

 

Thomas Jefferson aided Joseph Miller in getting U.S. citizenship so Miller could start a brewery here. It was later known as Miller High Life.

 

Before James Madison was President, he served in the House of Representatives. He authored the Tariff Act of 1789 to provide income for the government and promote “the manufacture of beer in every state in the Union”

 

Franklin Pierce and James Garfield both loved beer and drank little else.

 

Chester Arthur was under pressure by the Temperance Movement. However, he personally drank beer. Arthur said “I may be the president of the United States, but what I do with my private life is my own damned business!”

 

Grover Cleveland loved beer and when he first ran for District Attorney he and his opponent agreed to limit drinking to four pints a day so as to remain clear headed. It is rumored that Cleveland cheated.

 

Franklin Delano Roosevelt presided over the end of Prohibition. When he signed the Beer and Wine Revenue Act he said “I think this would be a good time for a beer.”

 

John Kennedy's drink of choice was Heineken.

 

Jimmy Carter signed a bill in 1978 that exempted homebrewing from excise taxes.

 

Barack Obama brought homebrewing to the White House. He used honey from bee hives on the property to make White House Honey Ale