American Slang For Alcohol (10 Examples!)

It’s hard to find a culture on the planet that doesn’t make use of alcohol to some extent or in one way or another.

Alcohol has its problems, naturally, but like anything, when enjoyed in moderation it can be a fantastic social lubricant.

This is just as true in the United States as it is elsewhere, and there are many different slang terms for alcohol and drinking in America that you may or may not be familiar with.

Today, we’re going to look at a wide selection of these terms, both general and specific—so let’s dive into it.

Booze

Starting off with what is undoubtedly the most common, catch-all slang term for alcohol in America, first we have “booze”.

This one is used throughout the country by virtually all generations and has been for many, many decades if not centuries.

Booze refers to just about any kind of alcohol, although for some people it may more specifically mean hard spirits and strong alcohol.

For most, though, it could mean any kind of alcohol.

Everyone will know what you mean when you use this term, even if they don’t use it themselves.

“Can you go to the store and pick me up some booze?” for example.

This term is quite old and has been in use since at least the end of the 16^th Century.

It is probably a variant of the Middle English word bous, used in the middle of the 14^th Century, which referred to an intoxicating drink.

It’s thought that the coincidental name of the American distiller E.G. Booz helped popularize the modern spelling of the word.

Sauce

Next we have “sauce”, another common slang term for alcohol used in the United States.

This one is more often used to refer to strong alcohol, and indeed often the idea is simply that you are referring to the state of someone’s drunkenness as well as the actual alcohol itself.

It’s not nearly as common as booze, but it is used widely throughout the country by both the young and old generations.

You might say someone is “lost in the sauce” if they are extremely drunk; on the other hand, it more often just means the alcohol itself.

“We’ll need to stock up on sauce for tonight,” for example.

The word itself is naturally very old, dating to at least the 14^th Century where it specifically meant a condiment for meat or fish.

Today, of course, a sauce is literally just any liquid-y, prepared food that goes on a dish.

When it started being used to mean alcohol is not entirely clear, though it seems to have been in use by the 19^th Century.

Hooch

Hooch is another slang term for alcohol widely used in America and has a rather more specific meaning than booze or sauce.

Hooch typically refers to strong, cheap, sometimes homebrewed alcohol, what might otherwise be called “moonshine”—but more on that later.

However, you can also buy hooch in stores, such as cheap, store-brand liquor like vodka or whisky.

“This stuff is hooch, haven’t you got anything nicer?” for example.

The term originally referred specifically to cheap whisky, and this is first attested in 1897.

It was a shortened form of the word hoochino, which referred to liquor specifically made by Alaskan Native Americans.

It was the name of a native tribe with whom their distilled alcohol was a favorite among settling miners.

Giggle juice

Next, we have “giggle juice,” a fairly clear and self-explanatory term that isn’t the most widely used in the U.S. but is still very common as a slang term for alcohol.

It is mostly used in a tongue-in-cheek, slightly ironic way, though many also just use it in total earnest.

The idea is simply that alcohol makes you giddy, puts you in a strange mood and makes you feel happy and jolly.

This can refer to any kind of alcohol, whether beer or hard spirits and is mostly used by older generations today.

“This giggle juice is really going to my head,” for example.

This term is a leftover from the 1920s, when “giggle water” or “giggle juice” were common ways to refer to alcohol.

This was a time when many new slang phrases arose, and though many of them fell out of use over time, this one continues to cling on—if only by a hair thread.

Brew

This one is generally a bit more specific, “brew” usually being a slang term for beer.

It can refer to other drinks like cocktails or perhaps cider, but in the vast majority of cases this one is going to mean beer.

It is primarily used by male Americans of a somewhat older generation, but to a lesser extent, you’ll hear it used by just about anyone.

Even if someone doesn’t use the term themselves, they are very likely to understand that it refers to beer.

“Let’s get the fellas round and knock back a few brews,” for example.

We don’t know when this term started being used in this way—it’s probably very old, since it simply derives from the fact that “brewing” is how beer is made.

Since at least the beginning of the 16^th Century, the term has been used as a noun as well as a verb, simply in the sense of a brewed beverage.

It caught on as a popular slang term for beer in the 20^th Century in America.

Hard stuff

“Hard stuff” is a common slang phrase reserved for the strongest kinds of alcohol.

Of course, depending on the speaker, they may consider a type of alcohol stronger or weaker.

For some, simple whisky might be considered the “hard stuff”.

On the other hand, veteran drinkers might consider whisky to just be booze—for them, hard stuff would be high-proof drinks like absinthe or home-brewed alcohol of various kinds.

This one is, then, mostly used by the older generations, though most people in American will know what you mean by this term.

“Break the hard stuff out, will you?” for example.

The term derives from the fact that when alcohol is separated from water during the process of distillation, only the hard stuff then remains.

Drinks with incredibly high ABV like absinthe are almost pure alcohol in some cases, so there’s nothing else left—just “the hard stuff”.

Moonshine

Another iconic slang popularized in the 1920s, but which in fact is much older, is “moonshine”.

This generally refers specifically to homebrewed alcohol, whatever form it might take.

It might be wine, whisky, vodka, or just about anything you could make at home.

However, it is always going to be very strong alcohol, so it’s unlikely to be something like beer or cider.

It can also refer to illicit alcohol that has been smuggled in from somewhere—but given the fact that prohibition ended more than 90 years ago, this isn’t really how people use the term anymore!

“I’ve made some moonshine in my backyard, do you want to try it?” for example.

The term is very old, having been first attested in 1785, originally a British term.

It was used in the southern United States by 1829, the idea being that the alcohol was either brewed or smuggled under the cover of darkness—under the moonlight.

As mentioned, during prohibition in the 1920s, alcohol was actually fully illegal and so the term became a lot more common.

Cold one

Another common slang term for a beer in America is a “cold one”.

This is a common term to use when referring to a nice cold beer on a hot day or after work.

It’s broadly used across generations though is more restricted to adults and not something that kids use as much.

Geographically, though, it’s fairly wide ranging and you’ll hear this term used just about anywhere in the United States.

You’ll hear this one worldwide, too, as it’s also quite common in Australia.

“Come over for a cold one after work, why don’t you?” for example.

It’s not really clear when this term first started being used.

It is used in branding widely now in the U.S. which goes a long way to explaining its commonality today.

The idea is obviously fairly simple—beers are supposed to be drunk cold, and for many people there is nothing more refreshing than a cold beer at the end of a long day.

Firewater

Firewater is another slang term for hard, strong alcohol, usually for very cheap alcohol that burns on its way down.

Naturally, then, this can refer to homebrewed alcohol though it more often refers to the cheapest kinds of alcohol you would get at the liquor store or off the supermarket shelves.

Cheap whisky is probably the best example of firewater—if you’ve ever had whisky of any kind you know it comes with a kick, so the cheaper variants are even worse.

“God, that’s some real firewater, I don’t think I can drink anymore,” for example.

The term is first attested in 1826 in America, and is supposedly derived from Native American slang.

The idea, naturally, is just that the alcohol burns you very badly like firewater would.

This one is perhaps not as common today as it once was, but most people will figure out from context what the sense of it is even if they don’t use the term themselves.

Liquor

Finally, we have one of the most commonly used terms for alcohol in America: liquor.

Some may dispute whether this really constitutes slang, but the fact is that very few other English-speaking nations use this term to refer to alcohol.

It certainly does skirt the line between slang and standard speech, but it is one of the most common ways to refer to strong alcohol in America, and so it bears mentioning.

Again, it is a term reserved for strong alcohol, what in other parts of the world might be called spirits—although this term is also used in America.

“Hard liquor” is a common variant of the term, though this may be called redundant since all liquor, by definition, is hard.

Though this one is more commonly used by older generations today, it is by no means falling out of use and just about everyone in the U.S. will understand what you mean by this term.

“We should get a couple of bottles of liquor for tonight,” for example.

Though more or less exclusively American today, the term is far older than America.

It is first recorded in the sense of a fermented or distilled drink in the 14^th Century, spelled likur, and originally had a broader meaning of any matter in a liquid state.

By the 18^th Century, the meaning had fully narrowed and this more general sense of any matter in liquid state fell away so that it became a term purely relating to fermented and distilled alcohol.

So, the Americans certainly have more than a few slang terms for alcohol.

Whether you want a term for a specific drink, like a beer, a general term for all alcohol, or a term for strong spirits, then American slang has you covered.

Some of these, naturally, are  a lot more common than others, but one way or another they are all used by Americans to some extent—it can depend on place, generation, and a few other factors.

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