The Iron Chancellor's drinking habits

Only the cellars [of Bismarck’s house in the Wilhelmstraße] were properly stocked. When Bismarck left in 1890, 13,000 bottles of wine had to be cleared out in a couple of days. This is not surprising in view of his statement that he intended to consume 5,000 bottles of champagne in his life—and this only as light refreshment after the table wines and brandy, to say nothing of beer.

—A.J.P. Taylor, Bismarck: The Man and the Statesman (London, 1955), 112.