George Washington Ordered Staggering Quantities Of His Favorite Wine

Some people like to party with alcohol, and the first U.S. president, George Washington, was one of them. In his lifetime, he purchased nearly 1,500 gallons of his favorite wine: Madeira. That's enough to fill an above-ground swimming pool. Washington ordered pipes that held around 126 gallons of Madeira wine on multiple occasions and once ordered 54 bottles in a single night. He didn't drink all of this alone, of course. There was a reason to share it — and he did with both friends and foes.

The first president may have been following the "one bottle per person rule" of dinner parties to keep up with demand. American colonial social dynamics were tense in the 1700s, especially for a group of people trying to form a nation independent of the British Empire. The founding fathers used parties as a way to strategize (and perhaps get a little buzzed). Truly, the trend of gossiping with friends at the bar was always a part of American culture. Rather than mixing Jell-O shots, however, these men were sipping Washington's Madeira wine among other common alcoholic beverages at the time.

The founding fathers might have consumed a great deal of alcohol because plain old water wasn't exactly potable. One can imagine it would be hard discussing politics with food poisoning. Whiskey, beer, cider, rum, and wine were ways to stay hydrated without risking the terrible diseases from contaminated water. Dental issues were also rampant because of this sugary diet and lack of modern toothbrushes and paste. George Washington himself famously had issues with his teeth. Early "dentists" encouraged drinking alcohol to manage toothaches. It's possible the wine's higher alcohol content helped Washington manage discomfort or disguise bad mouth tastes.

Madeira is fortified with brandy — a distilled wine beverage — in its fermentation process to raise its alcohol content. The wine comes from the Madeira archipelago near the borders of Portugal and Morocco, and it was one with the fortitude to survive the journey to the New World aboard ships. The islands were inhabited by the Portuguese, who turned them into a trade hub for sugar and George Washington's own favorite Madeira wine. Its taste can range from very dry to dark and sweet, and, according to Mount Vernon's website, Washington described it as "a rich oily wine." He consumed the beverage until his death in 1799, and one day prior, a member of his estate requested that a pipe full of Madeira wine of a "very superior quality" be sent urgently.