Apparently he drank 20 oz of champagne or wine at both lunch and dinner everyday. That’s 1000 mL, but you’re right that he was drinking other stuff besides pol roger.
He definitely drank a lot, but I think the amounts are overblown. The champagne was almost always shared. He nursed a scotch and soda, often in bed in the AM (He worked for 2-3 hours in bed before getting up), but they were diluted. He “smoked” about 10 cigars a day, although he liked to chew them, so he would let them go out and then chew away at it, without relighting. (Mark Twain I believe smoked 20 a day until he quit, although perhaps they were smaller). With regard to the scotch, most all of the scotch then was blended, so there was really no concept of “single malt”. I think the composition of malts in Johnny Walker red is out there somewhere likely readily available.
Here is a quotation from a site ostensibly debunking the myth of Churchill’s drinking, with its source. This is described as his daily intake. There is no mention of guests:
The point is that, for Churchill as an individual, his “limit of moderation” was quite high. The following (from Richard Langworth’s Winston Churchill, Myth and Reality) is a fair approximation of his minimum daily consumption of alcohol:
(1) 3-4 weak (no more than an ounce) whisky and sodas at 11am, teatime and bedtime and occasionally one other during the evening (He never drank whisky neat).
(2) An imperial pint (20 oz.) of champagne or wine at a 1pm lunch followed by a brandy, also likely an ounce.
(3) An imperial pint of champagne or wine at dinner followed by a brandy.
Another website, with no citational support says, “One estimate placed his consumption of Pol Roger champagne at 42,000 bottles during his lifetime.” For reference, the site is The Epic Drinking Regimen Of Prime Minister Winston Churchill.
Now all these lists may be quoting from the same bad information, but one sees the same rough estimates of what is described as what he consumed fairly constantly. If you have a documentary basis for doubting them, I’ll happily be persuaded.
According to the book, in 1941 when they first met, Roosevelt went to Churchill’s room to greet him. Churchill was buck naked, invited him in to his room and proceeded to talk with Roosevelt for an hour without dressing, just walking around with a towel on his shoulder. Priceless.
Alcohol can reduce inhibitions. 
RT
walking with destiny is a great read for those who haven’t read it.
There is a great line that Churchill came up with upon that meeting. something along the lines of–I have nothing to hide from you. i’ll have to search a bit for it.
Churchill had very little in the way of personal modesty. He took two baths a day almost every day of his life, and often wandered around with just his towel afterwards, or in his wildly ostentatious bathrobes with his puffy slippers with pom-poms. He worked while in his bath and sometimes had his transcriptionists (female) with him typing while he was giving dictation.
I remember a section about his true alcohol consumption in the three volume Last Lion book. I’ll have to search back for it.
General point … wine spirits etc back then weren’t positional goods, little ‘label drinking’. It’s all about simply what you like. As a frequent cigar smoker he probably had a preference for more vigorous claret versus fully mature, so 11 yr old Leoville Poyferre seems plausible. If he wasn’t too fussed about prices probably his idea of lunchtime claret.
Are the stories that he used a swizzle stick to stir the bubbles out of the champagne correct? Seems like he could have saved a bunch of money by buying Blanc de Noir.
Basically it sounds like Churchill was blitzed during the Blitz. Huzzah!
Totally plausible 1929 was the vintage to drink. The closest analog vintage would probably be 1982. Must have been an unbelievable bargain in 1940, just clawing up out of the Depression.
Johnny Walker Red Label was blended specifically to drink with soda. I’ve tasted Johnny Walker Red from that period and it was significantly different (and better) than that distilled in more recent times. Many of the component malts were from distilleries that no longer exist.
Yeah, that was a great one. Churchill aparently pushed hard to get the doc to write this. Interesting that he wrote a minimum rather than a maximum. (also interesting that he didn’t get the doc to write that he required two baths per day).
But 1932 was during Prohibition in USA , so wasn’t the Doctor’s note merely a necessity in order get alcohol?
correct. I forgot to look at the date.
This seems to have been when he was in and NY hospital after being hit by a car. Even if Prohibition had been over, it would have been a noticeable prescription.
Reminds me of the phrase, “When the going gets weird, the weird turn pro” . . . . What a time in this world.
Seems the doctor knew Churchill could not live without alcohol. I guess this is the perfect diagnosis of an alcoholic?
and now Im drinking 06 SWC during the coronavirus blitz.