His estate, according to the estimable Modern Drunkard, was at one point America’s biggest whiskey producer, bottling (barreling?) an astonishing 11,000 gallons in 1799 alone.
Hancock was never President but he was a big-time wine smuggler. Madeira. Cheated the Brits of their taxes on it so when they commandeered his sloop he was outraged because he wasn't actually smuggling any when they took it.
I give those guys a pass because drinking alcohol was safer than drinking water at the time. That's why I drink beer today, because you can't be too careful.
Potable water was often at a premium in those days. Cholera outbreaks were a common occurrence.
There are several men that I would love to imbibe with, to include Benjamin Franklin, Ronald Reagan, and Sam Houston. Especially Franklin, he was a rock star, usually in the company of women.
One of my best drinking buddies was Wolfgang, the owner of the Hotel Ostseeblick in Lutjenburg, Germany. I spent many nights there, while I was waiting for my girlfriend to get off work. She was a waitress, just like in the Zevon song, Lawyers, Guns, & Money. I helped Wolfgang close down the bar around 4 AM, just as the sun was coming up. Then I went to my gf's house for breakfast: zwiebelrost (raw ground beef seasoned with onions and onion salt) on toast with coffee.
A most enjoyable, and memorable summer (1979), indeed.