Last of The Big Time Drinkers: History’s Biggest Beer Drinkers

Dylan Thomas

One of Dylan Thomas’ best known works is Old Garbo, written at the age of 18, dedicated to alcohol. It contains the line ‘I liked the taste of beer. Its live, white lather, its brass bright depth’. It wasn’t just beer he had a liking for, he also liked the hard stuff. Thomas managed to avoid conscription by turning up to his tribunal with such a bad hangover that he was pale, shaking, sweating and covered in blotches. He died in 1953, aged 39, due to acute alcohol poisoning.

George Washington

The first president of the United States could, at best, be described as a devout lover of beer. Had it not been for Washington it is unlikely that we would now be enjoying the golden crisp taste of beers such as Budweiser, Miller or Coors. Although he had a favouring for British ales, the President instigated a ‘buy-American’ policy during the War of Independence that encouraged national breweries. When Washington was commander of the Continental Army he made sure that all his troops received a daily quart of beer. He was also known to have created his own beer, the hand-written recipe for Washington’s concoction is still on display at the New York Public Library.

Haakon the Good

Christmas is traditionally a time for having a few drinks, with neither shame or remorse. That wasn’t always the case of course, once upon a time Christmas was about religion and stuff. In fact drinking at Christmas time just wasn’t done, not until the 8th century anyway. King Haakon the Good of Norway decided to move the midwinter fashion for drinking (jul, or yule) to the 25th of December in honour of Jesus Christ. He once said: “Every man should have enough drink, and the holy day should be as long as there was beer to serve”. Word of this started to spread all across Europe very quickly, soon every northern European nation discovered the ‘true’ meaning of Christmas.

Herve Villechaize

Famed for playing a sadistic midget in the Bond film ‘The Man With the Golden Gun’ and for his appearance in the TV series ‘Fantasy Island’, where he would squint at the sky shouting ‘Look, boss! De plane, de plane’, Villechaize was a renowned drinker. The French actor, who was only 3ft 11in, started drinking gallons of fermented barley juice as his career began to falter. He used to ‘whore’ his way around Californian nightspots. Aged 50, in 1993, he threatened and kicked a 6ft 3in bailiff who was trying to serve him a court order. Villechaize died the very same year after shooting himself.