John McAfee’s drinking habits were as legendary and unpredictable as the man himself, ranging from party-fueled excess to eccentric masterpieces mixed in mason jars. His approach to alcohol was marked by bravado, curiosity, and a relentless disregard for convention, a reflection of the self-professed “lamb” at heart who seemed more interested in entertaining himself and others than in any kind of responsible consumption.
How It All Began
John McAfee’s introduction to alcohol wasn’t altogether unusual. Like many college students, he began his journey with drinks as a way to lubricate social situations and fuel creative, chaotic nights. It didn’t take long, though, for his relationship with alcohol to escalate. By the time he hit his stride in Silicon Valley, McAfee had crafted a seamless blend of professional success and a steadily increasing intake of booze. During this era, his daily routines might include “snorting coke at his desk and drinking a bottle of scotch,” which apparently did little to stifle his ability to succeed in the hyper-competitive world of technology.
His drinking habits became notorious among friends and coworkers. McAfee often partied as hard as he worked, treating alcohol not merely as a beverage but as a lifestyle. Whether slamming whiskey in his twenties as a rising coder or seeking solace in tequila before noon in his later years, McAfee’s consumption was prodigious and unapologetic. He didn’t merely drink; he drank so enthusiastically that his exploits became tales repeated throughout the tech industry, often invoked to explain his peculiar genius or his more baffling business decisions.
The Love Affair Intensifies
For McAfee, alcohol was never just a tool for relaxation. He treated his favorite drinks as companions on his journey through life’s unpredictable twists and turns. Not content with mere moderation, he reportedly drank two quarts of whiskey daily for over fifty years, a feat that, by some metrics, should qualify as Olympic. Mornings sometimes started with a punch of tequila “just to get started,” later moving on to Scotch or Irish whiskey with the casual air of someone selecting a pair of socks before leaving for work.
In interviews, McAfee admitted to drinking copiously while building his own company from the ground up, sometimes using alcohol as a confidence booster or an escape from stress. His philosophy seemed straightforward: drink if it brings pleasure, keep the party going, and let critics handle their own livers. Whether his drinks paved the way for software innovation or just gave him fodder for more outlandish anecdotes, McAfee saw his habits as a badge of freedom, evidence that he operated by his own rules.
Signature Cocktails and Ridiculous Routines
No account of John McAfee’s drinking is complete without mentioning his “signature cocktail,” a Frankenstein’s monster of liquors known as the McAfee 2020. Inspired by a Twitter video and documented by those brave enough to taste it, this drink contains vodka, mezcal, scotch, Kahlua, and blue curacao, each added without mercy to a mason jar. The concoction is wildly unbalanced, a drink as audacious and reckless as McAfee himself. The real recipe, according to McAfee, is “mix whatever comes to hand, as long as there’s plenty of it”.
The resulting beverage is apparently neither delicious nor safe for rational humans. Brave souls who sampled it described everything from immediate headaches to existential sadness, a true test of one’s commitment to experiencing the McAfee lifestyle. To John, of course, it was perfect; a reflection of chaos, freedom, and the kind of reckless abandon that was his default setting both in and out of the office.
Highs, Lows, and the In-Between
Despite the wild reputation, McAfee’s drinking had its somber side. There were periods when the scale of his consumption forced him to seek help. In the early 1980s, he attended Alcoholics Anonymous, taking breaks (however brief or unsuccessful) from substances he relied on for most of his adult life. McAfee’s ability to bounce back or reengage with excess demonstrated the resilience, or stubbornness, that defined much of his personal history. Even public breakdowns, whether caused by drugs, booze, or both, became part of his legend rather than a cautionary tale.
Through all the ups and downs, McAfee maintained an irrepressible sense of humor about his habits. Rarely did he take himself seriously, preferring to treat his vices as anecdotes for dinner parties or interviews rather than skeletons to hide in the closet. The man who might start his day with a half bottle of tequila and end with mojitos crafted by the bucket wasn’t just living life; he was starring in his own absurdist sitcom.
Did He Ever Slow Down?
For the most part, the answer seems to be no. Even into his seventies, McAfee’s relationship with alcohol continued unabated. Reports of his “Irish whiskey, Scotch, tequila before noon” regime suggested little sign of slowing down. Those around him were sometimes baffled by his capacity, but McAfee claimed it never stopped him from running businesses, founding companies, or occasionally evading armed government agents. For McAfee, drink was both fuel and shield, at once a defense against boredom and an accessory to adventure.
He delighted in recounting stories not only of his excess, but also the sheer durability of his constitution. With more than a few winks, McAfee suggested that he could drink, party, and live at a pace that would crush lesser mortals. When challenged, he relished pushing the limits just to prove he was still the world’s most energetic “lamb.”
The Legend of the Mason Jar
Among the pantheon of John McAfee’s drinking exploits, nothing captures his spirit more than the image of him mixing a kaleidoscopic cocktail in a mason jar, surrounded by the kind of madness that only he could generate. To the uninitiated, the recipe is an abomination, a mish-mash of whatever bottles happen to be close at hand. But to McAfee, it was the perfect drink: unpretentious, overwhelming, and completely his own.
This penchant for brewing chaos in mason jars encapsulates a broader truth about McAfee: he never met a boundary he didn’t want to cross, nor a convention he could resist shattering. The jar, oversized and ludicrous, is a fitting vessel for someone whose habits were never about taste or refinement, but about making a statement. For John, mixing drinks wasn’t about subtlety or tradition; it was about the thrill of excess itself.
So, What Was John McAfee’s Favorite Drink?
If pressed, it seems his favorite drink was simply “whiskey—plenty of it—preferably Irish or Scotch,” but McAfee’s notorious McAfee 2020 cocktail is the more memorable answer. This outlandish combination of vodka, mezcal, scotch, Kahlua, and blue curacao was his claim to drinking infamy, almost certainly awful, but undeniably unique. Mixing it in a mason jar, McAfee made sure that no two drinks were ever quite the same, a testament to his relentless pursuit of novelty.
He wasn’t picky about brands, aging, or flavor profiles. The main thing, it seems, was abundance and the sense of doing things his way: mixing, pouring, and drinking as if he were hosting a perpetual happy hour at the edge of reality.
The Eternal Toast
John McAfee’s drinking habits serve as both cautionary tale and uproarious parable, a chronicle of excess, humor, and unapologetic individuality. Where others found boundaries, McAfee found opportunities to push further and drink harder, always with a joke ready for the next round. His favorite drink was less about the liquor and more about the spectacle, the freedom, and the sheer entertainment of it all.
If there’s a lesson in McAfee’s story, perhaps it’s that life should be lived with the bravado of a mason jar in hand, whether filled with scotch, tequila, mezcal, or all three at once. Cheers to the spirit of John McAfee: the drinker who never settled for anything less than extraordinary.
Image by Gage Skidmore.