The Absolute Favorite Beverage Of Every US President

When you hear someone mention what diet the president of the United States follows, the first thing that comes to mind is likely food. But don't forget the drinks. Just as the everyday breakfasts and dinners that presidents ate showed how American food tastes have changed over the centuries, so too have the drinks. And it's interesting to see how attitudes toward alcohol have evolved over the course of 47 administrations.

For example, there were plenty of presidents before the 20th century who preferred not to drink alcohol. But completely teetotal presidents were more common in the 20th and 21st centuries. Since the 2001 inauguration of George W. Bush, for example, every president but one has been teetotal. Earlier presidents liked classic drinks like wine, hard cider, and whiskey (so much whiskey...). However, many 20th-century presidents branched out and started drinking cocktails like Bloody Marys and martinis. Ultra-processed drinks like sodas and Gatorade entered the conversation, too. So, let's look at what each president considered their absolute favorite beverage, starting with Washington and Adams and going all the way up to Biden and Trump.

George Washington preferred both dark porter with molasses and Madeira wine. Dark porter is a type of beer, and Washington was particularly fond of the porter produced in Philadelphia. He supposedly also had a bottle of Madeira wine every night, and was also partial to applejack brandy. Washington did make whiskey (he owned a distillery that produced 11,000 gallons in 1799), but he apparently didn't drink it that much.

John Adams started each day off with some hard cider, and not by accident. He wrote that he was trying to make that daily cider a habit and believed that it was good for health. When he found out that Harvard students were drinking wine and other drinks instead of cider, he actually said that the students who were suffering from health problems were suffering because they had stopped drinking cider. Adams was also a fan of Madeira wine, rum, and beer.

Thomas Jefferson's time as the U.S. representative in France left him with a distinct preference for light French and Italian wines. He even admitted that stronger wine just wasn't to his taste. Jefferson was a great supporter of the fledgling U.S. wine industry, but was unable to grow European wine grapes at home. His repeated attempts to grow more grapes, plus ordering a sizable number of expensive wine imports from France, left his personal finances in shambles.

James Madison drank what we'd now consider fairly large amounts of whiskey; supposedly, he had about 2 cups, or 1 pint, per day. But at the time, clean drinking water wasn't always available. You had a choice between something like whiskey (or another type of alcohol) and dehydration. Madison also liked champagne a lot, but openly admitted that he could have only a few glasses before suffering a major hangover the next day.

James Monroe learned to like burgundy and champagne after spending time in France. Unfortunately, those two drinks became the center of a scandal that left him almost broke. When he became president, Monroe had to furnish the White House, which was undergoing repairs. Monroe got money from Congress and turned the furniture duties over to another man, who kept asking for more money. Monroe eventually had to start paying for furniture himself, only to find that the man had actually spent money on burgundy and champagne instead of furniture. Monroe never recovered financially.

John Quincy Adams was so enamored of Madeira wine that it's said that he once did a blind taste test of the wine and was able to identify 11 of the 14 samples. Madeira wine is from the Portuguese island of Madeira, and it was first created in the 15th century. Supposedly, crews carrying wine aboard their ships in the island's port added brandy as a preservative, and the heat in the ships' holds caused the wines' flavor to intensify.

Andrew Jackson loved locally made whiskey and even made whiskey himself. He served so much whiskey punch at his presidential inauguration that the crowd got out of control and actually trashed the White House. Jackson had to escape from the crowd, and the event organizers had to put more whiskey outside the White House as bait to get the crowd to leave. Jackson himself didn't usually get very drunk, although he did like parties.

Martin Van Buren was a whiskey drinker, through and through. He could drink so much of it and had such a high tolerance for it that people called him "Blue Whiskey Van." He also apparently liked a drink called Scheidam, although descriptions of Scheidam vary. Some say it's whiskey mixed with red wine, while others say it's a Dutch drink related to gin. Unfortunately, Van Buren's drinking habits were his political undoing, as his opponents emphasized his drinking so much that Van Buren lost the next election.

William Henry Harrison liked hard cider so much that the opposition mocked him for it. Citing his age, they claimed that he should just receive some cider and a pension instead of the presidency. Harrison ran with the imagery and campaigned on being just like a regular, everyday person, utilizing the slogan "Log Cabin and Hard Cider". Unfortunately, he died shortly after his inauguration, so we don't know how his drinking habits during his presidency would have evolved.

John Tyler preferred champagne, and we know this because he said so in a letter that he wrote to his daughter. Other than that, there's not much information about preferred beverages in Tyler's life. He was too busy trying to deal with an unpopular presidency (his rise was so unexpected that people called him "His Accidency") and his increasing isolation from his own political party due to his support for the Confederacy.

James K. Polk really wasn't into alcohol, and he and First Lady Sarah Polk removed hard liquor from the White House. Occasionally, he would have some wine, brandy, or champagne, and that was about it. There's no indication that any other drinks, alcoholic or otherwise, were his favorite instead of one of those three. In fact, the Polk Administration was so sober and straightlaced (even dancing was prohibited) that people nicknamed Sarah Polk "Sahara Sarah."

Zachary Taylor didn't drink much, but he wasn't teetotal, and whiskey is often said to have been his favorite drink. However, he also really liked iced milk, which may have contributed to his death in 1850. He had attended a ceremony on July 4 where he downed a lot of cherries and iced milk before making his way back to the White House, where he had even more ice water. There's a lot of speculation that the unknown illness that killed him was possibly cholera from bacteria in the milk or water, because cholera outbreaks were common in D.C. at the time. However, his cause of death remains wholly unknown.

Millard Fillmore may have liked Madeira wine, but that's not set in stone. He wasn't that into drinking and didn't have a high tolerance for the stuff. In fact, he admitted that when he had a little too much Madeira once, he became somewhat confused. Fillmore didn't smoke or gamble, either, and the administration wasn't known for throwing a lot of parties. First Lady Abigail Powers Fillmore was often ill, so major social functions aside from her regularly scheduled dinners and receptions just weren't on the family's calendar.

We don't know what Franklin Pierce's favorite beverage was, other than "alcohol." Quite a lot of alcohol, in fact, which First Lady Jane Pierce didn't appreciate. She was very pro-temperance, and while Franklin Pierce did reduce his drinking somewhat after leaving office, the effort didn't last. There's some speculation that the alcohol may have been a coping mechanism due to the deaths of the couple's three children. However, Pierce was already known for his love of alcohol before meeting Jane. Pierce died of cirrhosis of the liver at age 65.

James Buchanan was devoted mainly to Madeira wine, with sherry and whiskey following close behind. Before his election, he would also order 10 gallons of whiskey per week from a supplier. His reaction to all that alcohol was actually kind of astounding. Observers noted that Buchanan could down successive bottles of cognac and whiskey without showing any outward effects. Although some have said the impact may have been noticeable in how he governed, instead. Many consider Buchanan to have been an awful president, and his alcohol consumption may not have helped.

If you were hoping to find a president with a favorite drink that wasn't alcohol, here it is. Abraham Lincoln did not really imbibe, and his favorite beverage was water. He wasn't teetotal and wasn't out to stop anyone from drinking, but he did generally support the temperance movement. Sometimes he'd have milk with a meal instead, but a glass of water was his overall preference.

Andrew Johnson was so into whiskey that he apparently tried to treat colds with it, even showing up to his vice presidential inauguration drunk. What was worse was that, not only was he sick the morning of the inauguration, but he was already hungover from the night before. And still he drank more and more whiskey to try to get over the hangover and illness. The day ended up being so embarrassing that people had to stop Johnson's speech, and he was unable to swear in senators.

Ulysses S. Grant had a reputation among the populace for being drunk, and he did spend a lot of money on alcohol. The most notorious amount was $1,800 (in 19th-century money) for champagne during his administration, and he definitely liked the stuff. However, he was also rumored to be a lightweight, with very low tolerance, and he was known for drinking small amounts at a time. The truth is that he actually tried to stay away from alcohol and limit his exposure, and there are no recorded incidents of him acting drunk.

Rutherford B. Hayes wasn't totally teetotal throughout his life, but he and First Lady Lucy Hayes were both linked to the temperance movement that sought to ban alcohol. Hayes had to essentially walk a tightrope between personal promotion of not drinking and the professional need to avoid angering everyone else in the nation by openly banning drinks. The First Lady did ban alcohol from the White House, though, which earned her the nickname of "Lemonade Lucy." Lemonade is also often listed as Hayes' preferred drink.

James A. Garfield's favorite drink was plain old beer, and apparently nothing else, as one of his friends noted that beer was really all he wanted to drink. He was also the first to openly say he liked beer, too, even though Washington was really the first to drink a form of beer in office. He brought alcohol back into the White House after the prohibition of the Hayes administration, at the same time that beer production in the U.S. was becoming more popular.

Chester Arthur liked different types of alcohol, but a glass of ale with a meat-heavy meal was apparently his favorite. He was not a fan of temperance groups trying to convince him to ban alcohol at the White House. You'll note that Arthur preferred ale specifically, and not just "beer." Ales are fermented at higher temperatures than lagers and tend to have flavors that are more fruity or spicy.

Grover Cleveland was so enamored of beer that he had trouble limiting his consumption to only four mugs per day. He was known for drinking as much as a gallon of beer per day, although we don't know just how often he imbibed that amount. Cleveland didn't have a favorite brand or type and was more into beer for beer's sake. He was also a huge fan of visiting beer halls.

Benjamin Harrison didn't drink alcohol. Instead, he was a tea-drinking president who even refused to serve alcohol to guests. Those attending parties at the White House were given beef tea, a clear mocktail made from beef base, water, celery salt, and salt and pepper. That's right; guests at fancy White House events were given beef broth instead of wine or other elegant drinks. At the time, though, beef tea was considered more of a drink substitute than a broth that you'd have as a side dish at a meal.

William McKinley liked rye whiskey, especially in cocktails. He even had a couple of cocktails created and named in his honor, and the more popular of the two was the McKinley's Delight. This was a mix of rye whiskey, sweet vermouth, cherry liqueur, and absinthe, along with an optional lemon twist. McKinley and the First Lady were also known for serving wine at events, which shocked temperance advocates. McKinley had previously been a prosecutor who'd been tough on illegal liquor sales, and he teamed up with temperance groups before his election.

Theodore Roosevelt, namesake of the Teddy Bear, was a fan of mint juleps. These are combinations of bourbon or rye whiskey, sugar, muddled mint leaves, and water. Some recipes include brandy. Roosevelt's mint juleps were known for using mint from the White House garden. However, Roosevelt himself claimed that he rarely drank juleps and even took legal action when a newspaper implied he was often drunk.

William Howard Taft wasn't a drinker. He'd drink socially, preferring champagne, and he'd drink other types of alcohol. However, he restricted his alcohol intake due to his struggles to lose weight. But that didn't mean he didn't enjoy drinking — he did, just not of alcohol. Taft apparently loved ginger ale, too. So much so that he reportedly drank four (four!) bottles of ginger ale during a meal while visiting a friend in Georgia. He continued drinking ginger ale during the trip.

Woodrow Wilson loved Scotch so much that his campaign slogan was even based on a brand of whiskey that shared his name. Wilson was in office when Congress passed the Volstead Act, which began the Prohibition era. Wilson actually vetoed the bill, but both the House and Senate had enough votes to override him. The Eighteenth Amendment was ratified in 1919 and wasn't repealed until the passage of the Twenty-First Amendment in 1933.

Warren G. Harding is the last president on this list to prefer whiskey in general (although we have a couple of Scotch and bourbon drinkers coming up). And like it, he did; he was known for keeping whiskey with him when he played golf, and the selection of whiskeys at his White House parties was legendary. And this was during Prohibition! His administration was one of the most alcohol-forward of the bunch.

No one's that sure about what Calvin Coolidge really liked to drink. Most people point to Tokay wine, which is a wine from the Tokaj (that last "j" is pronounced like a "y") region in northeast Hungary that's been a center of winemaking for centuries. But no one really knows because even Coolidge didn't discuss it publicly. He didn't like parties, and this is the president who toasted the Cuban president in 1928 with water. We'll let Tokay wine stand as his favorite here.

Herbert Hoover's favorite drink apparently shifted from wine to dry martinis over the years. He reportedly had a vast wine collection that his wife allegedly got rid of during Prohibition. After that, he started drinking martinis, although he'd have only two at dinnertime. We do know that he really liked them, though, because when he was older and under a doctor's orders to drink only one martini, he simply got a larger glass.

Franklin D. Roosevelt's choice of drink was a martini, and he'd make drinks himself for Happy Hour at the White House. He also liked Manhattans and a cocktail called a "Bermuda Rum Swizzle," which contained rum, orange and lime juice, and a syrup known as Falernum. Despite his love of cocktails, he didn't have the best reputation for making them. While FDR had promoted the end of Prohibition, his drinks apparently tasted so terrible that even Joseph Stalin complained about them.

Harry S. Truman loved bourbon; there's no doubt about this one. He'd even start the day with bourbon, and we're not kidding. He'd have a shot of it while going for a walk, and was known to drink bourbon while playing poker or spending time with his wife. Truman preferred his drinks strong, and he would apparently become angry if his staff prepared a weak drink for him.

Dwight D. Eisenhower couldn't drink much at all. He'd had several heart attacks, and he was under a doctor's orders to avoid drinking when possible. Eisenhower would still sneak a Scotch and soda now and again, usually with meals. He was only supposed to have one, but he'd sometimes have two. He had a reputation for once punching a wall while drunk after graduating from West Point, but Eisenhower himself said that was an exaggeration.

John F. Kennedy didn't have just one favorite drink, but he also wasn't a huge drinker due to medical issues. His alcohol consumption was mainly social, with a Bloody Mary as an oft-mentioned preference. You could also find him drinking the ever-popular Heineken beer or a daiquiri. While these sound like pretty plain cocktail and beer choices now, back in the early 1960s, vodka was still gaining attention in the U.S., and Heineken was imported, which was a huge deal at the time.

Lyndon B. Johnson wins for the most specific favorite drink because we even know the brand he chose: Cutty Sark Scotch whiskey mixed with soda, and often weak. He wanted to be sure that whoever he was talking to was drinking something stronger. Supposedly, he also liked driving around on his ranch in Texas while drinking it, occasionally holding the cup outside his car as a Secret Service agent would refill his drink.

Richard M. Nixon had expensive tastes that he didn't share with his guests. Nixon's drink preference was for Château Lafite Rothschild wine, a high-end, expensive wine. But guests got red wine poured from a bottle wrapped in a towel — that hid the label showing how cheap that wine really was. However, that wasn't the most alarming thing about Nixon and wine. There's an unconfirmed story that in 1969, he supposedly ordered a nuclear strike on North Korea while drunk, after the country shot down a U.S. military plane.

Gerald R. Ford was mainly a martini man, with some gin & tonics thrown in the mix. Reportedly, when he was Vice President, you could find him having double martinis with lunch. That changed after the Watergate scandal left Ford in the Oval Office; his aides suggested that he reduce his alcohol intake to protect his reputation as the White House recovered from the past few years. Ford later quit drinking altogether after First Lady Betty Ford stopped drinking.

Jimmy Carter drank only when necessary, mainly for ceremonies. He had one of the drier administrations and even banned hard liquor from the White House, claiming financial savings. Diplomatic events that required toasts called for a little white wine for the then-president. His preference for white wine was in part protection, too, so he wouldn't have to drink very strong vodka during summits with Soviet leaders. Despite his low alcohol intake, Carter was a winemaker, using native Southern grapes like Muscadine for his wines.

If one drink has to be associated with Ronald Reagan, it's going to be a very good wine from California. Reagan will forever be associated with the state after his legendary Hollywood career and stint as the state's governor from 1967 to 1975. He'd serve the wine at dinners with other diplomats, once even serving wine from vineyards in the Russian River Valley in California to then-Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev. Reagan was also partial to an Orange Blossom cocktail, which is a mix of vodka, grenadine or vermouth, orange juice, and ice.

George H.W. Bush's favorite drink actually isn't that clear. The one that gets mentioned the most is a vodka martini, so we'll go with that as his favorite. But in reality, he'd vary what he drank, from beer to wine and beyond. There's not much to go on for him, but it turns out that his grandfather wrote an introduction to a cocktail recipe book before Prohibition.

Bill Clinton's preferred drink was a cocktail known as a "Snakebite," but overall, he wasn't that into alcohol. A Snakebite is a combination of 1 part lager and 1 part cider. Clinton's drinking was often limited to ceremonies, although he would have non-ceremony drinks now and then. One story claims that he tried to order a Snakebite when in the U.K., only to be told the drink is illegal there. It's not, and in fact, if you add ¼-ounce of blackcurrant liqueur to the lager and cider, you supposedly have a U.K. drink called "Diesel."

George W. Bush's favorite drink in office was soda, although he didn't specify a particular brand. He used to drink alcohol a lot, way before he started running for office back in Texas. He even had a DUI. Back then, his drinks were beer, a liqueur called B&B, and bourbon. But he gave all that up and became teetotal, partly due to a hangover when he turned 40 and partly due to his wife's influence. That energy had to go somewhere, though, and Bush aimed it toward fitness.

Barack Obama's choice of drink was beer, and he was the first president to create his own homebrew in the White House. He added honey from beehives kept at the White House to create White House Honey Ale, which he kept on hand to give to guests. Obama was also known for holding a beer "summit" to discuss matters with Henry Louis Gates and a police officer who had arrested Gates outside Gates' home. Obama would also drink Honest Tea's Black Forest Berry tea when he wanted caffeine instead of alcohol.

Current President Donald Trump initially took office in 2017 for his first term, and while he wasn't the only teetotal president we've had, he is the one with the most stark backstory: His older brother had struggled with alcoholism and died of an alcohol-related illness. Trump was adamant about never drinking and said he instructed his children to avoid alcohol, too. Diet Coke is his drink of choice, and drink it, he does — reportedly 12 cans per day during his first term. All that said, Trump does own a winery.

Finally, Joe Biden's drink of choice is fitting given that he was almost always on the go: orange Gatorade. Biden was known to keep travel-size bottles of the stuff with his belongings when he'd go to meetings and would have it with lunch. He would also reportedly start the day with one after his morning exercise. He didn't drink alcohol, and when he wanted something other than Gatorade, he'd aim for a can of Coke Zero.