Continuing our list of the drinks our past presidents enjoyed, here are numbers 11 through 20.
Note that in two cases, they did not drink at all.
#11 - James K. Polk
Preferred Drink: Wine
James K. Polk was not a heavy drinker, but he did enjoy wine, champagne and brandy.
#12 - Zachary Taylor
Preferred Drink: Whiskey
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!'"
This is a man who had his priorities in order.
#13 - Millard Fillmore
Preferred Drink: Madeira
Millard Fillmore was apparently a lightweight. However, he "once admitted to sampling enough old Madeira that he was 'slightly fuddled.'"
Feel free to use the term "slightly fuddled" as often as you can moving forward.
#14 - Franklin Pierce
Preferred Drink: Everything
Franklin Pierce was the drunkest president in American history. According to historians, Pierce "drank a lot of everything" and once said after leaving office, "What can an ex-president of the United States do except get drunk?"
He died of cirrhosis of the liver at age 65.
#15 - James Buchanan
Preferred Drink: Sherry
As the president who preceded Abraham Lincoln, James Buchanan's historical standing was perhaps always doomed to be cast in a negative light. Of course, his decision to dismiss slavery as an issue that needed to be addressed, among other questionable policies in office, have helped Buchanan consistently be labeled one of America's worst presidents. There are others that are worse.
As far as his stance on alcohol, a friend of Buchanan's once said, "The Madeira and sherry that he has consumed would fill more than one old cellar.”
#16 - Abraham Lincoln
Preferred Drink: Water
While Pierce earns the distinction of the drunkest president, Abraham Lincoln was pegged the driest.
If "Honest Abe" did drink, he did so very rarely.
#17 - Andrew Johnson
Preferred Drink: Whiskey
As it turns out, both Andrew Johnson and Andrew Jackson both enjoyed whiskey above other alcoholic drinks.
#18 - Ulysses S. Grant
Preferred Drink: Champagne
Like Fillmore, Ulysses S. Grant was labeled a lightweight drinker by Will-Weber. That doesn't exactly fit the stereotype of a gruff war general — though other sources note he was an avid drinker during his days as a general — but evidently Grant had low drinking tolerance by the time he got to the Oval Office.
One of Grant's White House entertaining bills included $1,800 for champagne alone, so he certainly wasn't opposed to celebratory drinks.
#19 - Rutherford B. Hayes
Preferred Drink: Non-alcoholic
Rutherford B. Hayes' wife, Lucy, was a teetotaler — a believer in complete personal abstinence from alcoholic drinks. As such, she banned alcohol and smoking (among other things) from the White House when Hayes was president. She earned the nickname "Lemonade Lucy" for this lifestyle.
Staffers sympathetic to visitors that might want some alcohol tried to infuse some oranges in the punch with rum. Hayes apparently discovered the plot and had staffers substitute rum flavoring instead.
Though Hayes adopted his wife's personal stance toward alcohol while in office, he was not a teetotaler throughout his entire life.
#20 - James Garfield
Preferred Drink: Beer
President James Garfield, unlike other presidents, was a beer man through and through.
A friend of Garfield's — Thomas Donaldson — once noted in his diary that: 'Garfield ... liked beer and drank but little else.’