All the Presidents’ Drinks: 11 Cocktails Favored by Presidents from Jefferson to Trump

Who doesn’t like a stiff drink at the end of the day? No one I know, and most of the people I know have jobs that rank somewhere between pizza delivery boy and cat sitter on the stressful careers scale (myself included). Still, they find it necessary to hit the bottle hard at the end of the day.

Now imagine you’re the President, and after waking up at 4am following two winks of what barely passes as sleep, you spend the next 18 hours dealing with confrontations, crises, and decisions that are literally do or die. (And if you’re Hillary Clinton, add to that pundits and political opponents picking on your hair, heels, makeup, body, pantsuit, gait, smile, scrunchee, etc.) Yea, you’d need a drink… or ten.

So what do U.S. Presidents imbibe when they want to unwind? Here are the cocktail recipes favored by and matched to the personalities of current and past presidents, as well as hopefuls Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump. You might be surprised by their tastes. [pagebreak]

President Barack Obama

The current POTUS loves beer and has often been photographed with a pint in his hand. Word on the street is that White House Honey Ale made with honey from the White House hives is kept in the Executive Mansion for special guests.

George Washington

Washington distilled his own whiskey – a power-packed version made of 60% rye, 3% corn, and little to no malted barley – near Mount Vernon. But what he actually drank, according to writer Brian Abrams, was a wintry concoction known as Martha’s Cherry Bounce. Apparently, he carried a canteen of it – a blend of sour cherries, sugar, cinnamon, brandy, cloves, and nutmeg – when he surveyed the Allegheny Mountains in 1784.

Thomas Jefferson

Jefferson developed a taste for wine when he toured vineyards in Burgundy and Bordeaux in his youth. According to Monticello.org, Thomas Jefferson said in 1818 that “in nothing have the habits of the palate more decisive influence than in our relish of wines.” I’ll drink to that. [pagebreak]

FDR

The man behind The New Deal favored a concoction he called the “Haitian Libation.” His son called it “deplorable” – was it just deplorable or was it a basket of deplorables? – adding that if his father continued serving this abomination of a drink he’d be left without any friends. Frankly, Mr. Franklin, your rum, OJ, egg, and sugar cocktail sounds pretty delish. 

JFK

JFK’s tastes were broad and not a little bit surprising. For example, he liked daiquiris. He also favored Bloody Marys and Heineken, which was imported in the Sixties and therefore rare and pricey.

LBJ

The 36th President of the United States, best known for his “All the Way with LBJ” pins and prickly personality, was a fan of the red solo cup. It’s said that enjoyed speeding around his Texas Ranch sipping whiskey from one. [pagebreak]

Gerald Ford

This recipe for a Charleston Light Dragoon’s Punch – try saying that five times fast – comes from a cookbook curated by Ford, the Republican Congressional Cookbook, which you can purchase for around 29 cents today. Made from a base of brandy, peach brandy, and Jamaican rum, it really does pack a punch.

Richard Nixon

Slippery Dick was slippery indeed. After he left The White House in disgrace, his former dining room staff reported that he regularly served cheap wine to his dinner guests while sipping $699 bottles of Château Lafite Rothschild. To mask his deception, he advised servers to wrap the bottles of wine with towels so they would think they, too, were drinking the good stuff.

Ronald Reagan

It’s no surprise that Reagan liked California wines. He was an actor and actors love wine. (That’s journalism, kids. Real journalism.) What you might not know is that he also liked the occasional Orange Blossom Special made with vodka, grenadine, and orange juice. [pagebreak]

Bill Clinton

Bubba’s preferred cocktail is the Snakebite, a drink made of hard cider, lager, and black currant liqueur. He was introduced to the Snakebite while a scholar at Oxford, where it was known by its British name, Diesel.

Donald Trump

The Donald doesn’t drink and never has. (Sadly, his older brother was an alcoholic who died from his addiction.) Trump did, however, launch his own brand of vodka in 2006, which he described as “a superb product.” Sales were meager and production of Trump Vodka ceased in 2011.  

Hillary Clinton

HRC enjoys a drink at the end of the day. She recently told voters that her favorite drink is a classic vodka martini, and Patti Solis Doyle, a close Clinton confidante, told HuffPo that her pal likes to “hang out and drink and gossip” over a glass of wine. I’m with her.