Is it true that Winston Churchill drank every day a bottle of Armenian cognac?

In blogs and on sites dedicated to alcohol, a story about Churchill's love for Armenian cognac is regularly found. We decided to check if the British politician loved this drink so much so much.

The story of Churchill and Armenian cognac can be found in various versions. Most often in social networks (for example, in the public "VKontakte" "Facts from history") She is stated as follows:“ Winston Churchill loved Armenian cognac very much and daily drank a bottle of 50-degree cognac "Dvin". Once the prime minister discovered that Dvin had lost its former taste. He expressed his discontent to Stalin. It turned out that the master Margar Sedrakang, who was engaged in the bathing "Dvina", was exiled to Siberia. He was returned, restored to the party. Churchill began to receive his favorite cognac again, and Sedrakran subsequently awarded the title of Hero of Socialist Labor. ” The same text is found in Livejournal, and c Facebook, and in the media, most often aimed at the Armenian reader, for example, in "Sputnik - Armenia". It is also on many sites of alcohol and cigar stores.

When asked whether Churchill was drinking at all someday Armenian cognac, the answer is extremely simple: yes, drank. There is confirmation of this and in posthumous biographies British politics, and in memoirs. For example, in the memoirs of the Soviet military leader Alexander Golovanov, since 1943, the Marshal of Aviation, there story About the meeting of Stalin and Churchill in August 1942. According to Golovanov, Churchill did not lose time at the table and drank together with the deputy chairman of the Council of People's Commissars Kliment Voroshilov pepper, and then switched to cognac: “Meanwhile, I saw a bottle of Armenian cognac in the hands of the British prime minister. Having examined the label, he filled Stalin's glass. In response, Stalin poured the same cognac to Churchill. Toasts followed one after another. Stalin and Churchill drank flush. "

Alexander Golovanov writes about the Armenian cognac and further. According to him, "the British prime minister lived at Stalin’s country house, had a sufficient amount of Armenian cognac at his disposal." And the gift cognac, designed to transfer US President Franklin Roosevelt, drank Churchill along the way.

This story Given And in the book on the gastronomic addictions of the British Prime Minister “Dinner with Churchill”. But the author of Sita Stelzer doubts the veracity of Golovanov’s memoirs - or rather, in the part where it is about an alcohol competition between him and Stalin. Other contemporaries of Churchill say that the politician avoided excessive drinking alcohol at dinner and even more so during important negotiations. After that lunch, the British prime minister was quite vigor - this was told by Archibald Clark Kerr, at that time the ambassador of Great Britain to the USSR. And the fact that Churchill then drank, including Armenian cognac, there is no doubt, the author of the book writes.

Churchill's relationship with Armenian cognac in detail They understand In the book of Irina Petrosyan and David Anderwood "Armenian food: facts, fiction and folklore." The story about the fact that Churchill drank a bottle of Armenian cognac per day and that Stalin regularly sent him cognac with boxes, the authors consider it a fiction. Firstly, there is no evidence in English-speaking sources about the regular supplies of Armenian cognac to Churchill. And after 1946, relations between former allies went into the Cold War. Churchill said his famous Fulton speech in which said About the iron curtain. Stalin is sharply answered On it in the newspaper Pravda, calling the former British Prime Minister the arsonist of the war and comparing it with Hitler. At that time there was no longer up to cognac.

Another argument against the myth of regular use by Churchill of Armenian cognac is the well -studied tastes of the policy. On site International Society of Churchill, studying his heritage, describes in detail about the preferences of a policy in the field of alcohol. He is from cognacs preferred French Hine, nothing is known about Armenian.

However, in the myth, which we analyze, even a well -defined variety of Armenian cognac - “Dvin” is indicated. Most likely, the source is publication In London Evening Standard March 23, 2012. The article said that Churchill annually received 400 bottles of cognac from the USSR. But it is unlikely that this publication can be considered seriously, since it is advertising and praises the Armenian cognac as such.

Thus, there is no acceptable evidence of the story of the daily use of Armenian cognac Churchill.

Photo on the cover: Wikimedia Commons

Most likely not true

What do our verdicts mean?

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