Why Abraham Lincoln Steered Clear Of Alcohol

Some might think that presidents deserve a drink at the end of a hard day running the country, but not Abraham Lincoln. At events, Honest Abe was known to abstain from more than a few sips of alcohol. This choice wasn't because of a moral objection. Per Poppy Cannon's 1968 title "The President's Cookbook," he simply described the experience as "unpleasant" and said drinking "always leaves me flabby, undone."

Considering the worries of Lincoln's time in the White House — such as the U.S. Civil War and the abolishment of slavery — citizens may have felt comforted knowing that the president liked to keep his wits about him. (The same wasn't necessarily true of Lincoln's Union Army general and eventual U.S. president Ulysses S. Grant, who struggled with a hankering for whiskey.)

Despite Lincoln's preferences, he didn't always turned down a drink when it was offered. Mark Will-Weber, author of the book "Mint Juleps With Teddy Roosevelt: The Complete History of Presidential Drinking," said in a 2015 Bloomberg interview that Lincoln used to pretend to sip wine at White House events and then abandon the glass.

While Lincoln preferred to avoid alcohol during his presidency, he did have a history with the substance. The 16th U.S. president grew up in Kentucky's historic bourbon country, and like many of the community's farmers, his father worked at a distillery in between harvests. Lincoln himself also spent time working in the bourbon business. In fact, he's the only president who ever held a liquor license. While in his 20s, he co-owned a store that also served alcohol. Along with a penny and a bottle of bourbon, a replica of the president's liquor license was included in a 2018 commemorative box from Boundary Oak Distillery, which operates on land believed to be a part of the Lincoln family farm in Kentucky.

On the campaign trail, Lincoln's rival Stephen Douglas tried to hold this license against him, but Lincoln was a known friend of the temperance movement. In 1842, he delivered a speech extolling the virtues of avoiding alcohol (while also calling on people to refrain from judging others who drank in moderation). All things considered, Lincoln seems to be one of the presidents you wouldn't find at a White House happy hour.