The social drinker

British politics is clearly decadent these days, but it would be unfair to forget the 1940s, when British politicians knew what they were doing, who they were, and took their responsibilities seriously. Despite what the Puritans like to believe, giants such as Churchill were able to fight teetotallers such as Hitler rather successfully, while also enjoying formidable amounts of drink.

Churchill’s recipe for happiness and productivity was simple and remains hard to beat: “Hot baths, cold Champagne, new peas and old brandy.”

When it came to Champagne, his lifelong favourite was Pol Roger; a fondness that was returned by the famous producer.

When the great man died, Pol Roger added a black rim to its labels and later named a

cuvee (blend) after him.

Churchill was much more promiscuous when it came to brandy, drinking Armenian brandies with Stalin, and all sorts of

French brandies over the years, although his favourite appears to have been the legendary Prunier, which he served at Potsdam.

Churchill seems to have mixed his wines, whiskies and brandies with soda, a habit that probably made it difficult for contemporaries to know just how much he was really consuming.

His preferred wine was Claret — a type of wine that unfortunately almost nobody buys today — again, with soda. In 1924, he wrote a letter from his new house to his wife, telling her that he was drinking “Champagne at all meals and buckets of claret and soda in between.”

When it came to whiskey, Churchill had simple tastes by today’s standards. Instead of expensive single malts, he drank small quantities of Johnnie Walker Red Label with soda; a drink which his children called a ‘Papa Cocktail’. There’s a lesson there for all of us.