The line you quoted comes from John Adams. He reportedly wrote, while in Philadelphia in 1775, that he “drink[s] no cider, but feast[s] on Philadelphia beer,” indicating a preference for beer over cider during that visit. The fuller context shows Adams famously extolled cider from New England in other writings, but the Philadelphia-beer remark specifically points to his shift in that moment or setting. Key points to note
- Origin: John Adams, while in Philadelphia in the 1770s, is the source of the cider-versus-beer contrast.
- Variants: Common paraphrases exist, such as “I drink no cider, but feast on Philadelphia beer,” which appear in several quotations compilations and biographical notes about Adams.
- Nuance: Some sources also discuss Adams’s broader cider affection for New England and his health opinions on cider, illustrating that his beverage preferences could be situational rather than absolute.
If you’d like, I can pull primary-source references or quotations from foundry-era letters and biographies to pinpoint exact dates and manuscript citations.
