When he arrived at Cambridge University he took 2,000 bottles of port with him

The prize for the rowdiest port drinker goes to a Shropshire squire called John Mytton who drank between four and six bottles of port a day. he was thought to have been permanently drunk for most of his adult life. He once set fire to his nightshirt in order to cure hiccups. When he arrived at Cambridge University he took 2,000 bottles of port with him. He left without any port or a degree. Briefly MP for Shrewsbury, he was more famous for his drunken exploits. Mytton's biographer, Charles James Apperley, wrote: "He once rode this bear into his drawing-room, in full hunting costume, The bear carried him very quietly for a time; but on being pricked by the spur he bit his rider through the calf of his leg." Mytton died aged 37, his enormous inheritance nearly spent (on port).

H. Jeffreys, Empire of Booze (2016), 44

Port drinkers appreciate the tepid warmth of the fading aristocracy

Port should be sipped and not drunk. This is partly because of its velvet body, and partly by way of parsimonious affectation. Let others abandon themselves to the bitter triumphs of whisky on the rocks or dry martini. Port drinkers appreciate the tepid warmth of the fading aristocracy, the taste of fruit from the curate's garden and the old-fashioned sickliness of a recipe that brings a delicate blush to a young lady's cheeks.

P. Delerm, The small pleasures of life (1997), 9-10