I'll have a Sam Adams, Mr. President

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Career paths to the White House are varied, but Abraham Lincoln is the only U.S. president who was once a licensed bartender. He was co-owner of Berry and Lincoln, a saloon in New Salem, Illinois.  It was back in 1832, after a failed run for Illinois state legislature, that the 23-year-old opened what was first a general store.  The store sold alcohol that was illegal to drink on premises.  So in 1833 the pair obtained personal licenses to serve.  Because Berry was a raging alcoholic, most of the work fell to Lincoln, who could not compete with other taverns in the town.  A declining population in New Salem sealed the fate of Lincoln’s days as a bartender, but his opponents during the 1860 presidential campaign would not let him forget the past.  Because the Republican Party, of which Lincoln was a member, promoted the temperance movement, his opponent Stephen Douglass used Lincoln’s stint as a bartender against him.  Lincoln cleverly denied his role in Berry and Lincoln, claiming that it was Berry who had obtained the licenses, not him.  At least he never claimed not to have imbibed.