Obama seems to have eclectic tastes when it comes to choice of drinks

Washington, July 18 (ANI): Unlike some of his predecessors, U.S. President Barack Obama has appears to have eclectic tastes, when it comes to the choice of drinks.

While Franklin D. Roosevelt had a thing for martinis, Richard Nixon loved Chateau Margaux and Lyndon Johnson preferred scotch, Obama choices are varied.

Rather than sticking to one signature drink, he has been found to savour beer, wine, martinis, sparkling wine, and margaritas at different occasions.

According to reports, Obama opted for a wine and First Lady Michelle sipped on two martinis while on a date in New York at Blue Hill, a West Village eatery.

The First Couple ordered matching martinis on a night out in May at the D.C. restaurant Citronelle.

"And they didn't even finish them. They drank mineral water all night and then ordered coffee," the Politico quoted manager Jean-Jacques Retourne as recalling.

At a Washington Wizards-Chicago Bulls basketball game in February, the president drank a beer.

On the night he won the presidential election, Obama cracked open a bottle of Graham Beck Brut NV, a sparkling wine from South Africa.

And just before being sworn into office, the President stopped by one of his favourite Chicago haunts, Topolobampo, and ordered wine pairings with the 90-dollar "celebration" tasting menu.

Restaurant manager Kevin Casey has revealed that Obama and Michelle have a history of ordering up a round of margaritas at the restaurant.

"They like to mix it up," Casey says.

While some people think that Obama is their President 24 hours a day and so he should not drink on the job, historians say that drinking is not an uncommon thing for presidents.

"Drinking was part of the Washington culture. It was pretty common, and it didn't raise any eyebrows," says Julian Zelizer, a professor of history and public affairs at Princeton University.

Obama once told high school students in New Hampshire during the presidential campaign that he "got into drinking and experimenting with drugs. ... There was a whole stretch of time where I didn't apply myself."

Now, as an adult, says Syracuse University Pop Culture Professor Robert Thompson, a sip now and then only humanizes him.

"It certainly plays in his favour. It gives people the sense that he's a regular guy. He's doing what one does at a basketball game. He's having a beer. It adds to the notion that he's kind of a cool guy, and it might be nice to have a drink with him," Thompson says. (ANI)