Canadian Slang For Beer (9 Examples!)

Beer is one of the oldest beverages humanity still produces.

It is drunk in virtually every corner of the world, and so it’s not surprising that almost every language, indeed every regional dialect, has more than a few slang terms for the alcoholic drink.

Canada is no exception to this rule, so today, we’re going to look at some of the most common slang terms for beer up the cold north.

Let’s get started.

Brewski

Starting off with the best catch-all term, simply describing a beer of any kind, is brewski.

This is widely used across Canada, and as “brewski” can mean a single bottle or can of beer, and “brewskis” can refer to as many beers as you want.

While this is not a hard and fast rule, this term tends to refer to the kinds of beers you would buy to drink at home, rather than, say, a draught beer bought in a bar.

The term is widely used in U.S. slang as well, originated in college culture there, and very shortly passed on to Canada.

The word was first added to an English dictionary in 1977 following its use in an SNL comedy skit.

It was simply an imitation Russian word.

Two-four/twofer

Next, we have one that is more limited to Canada. “Two-four” is a case of 24 beers, which is a common size of crates of beer in Canada.

This will very often be used in place of saying case or crate. “I’m going to pick up a two-four on the way over to your place,” for instance.

It’s also spelled as twofer and is generally pronounced this way.

Obviously, the term is simply formed by combining the two digits which make up the number 24.

However, this term may have come into use due to the national holiday celebrated on May 24^th each year, which is the birthday of Queen Victoria.

You’d tend to get a twofer in for the celebrations!

Two-eight

 Following on from that, you’ll also get beers in crates of 28.

These are known, colloquially, as two-eights.

This was just a natural extension of the term twofer, although two-eight unfortunately doesn’t lend itself to a snappy sounding word like twofer.

You just have to say two-eight.

Quart

You may also be familiar with this one if you’re from the U.S.

A quart refers to a large bottle of beer, and this is used across Canada too.

It is rather interesting that this one should have travelled to Canada from the U.S., given its real meaning.

A quart usually means a quarter of a gallon of beer, but whereas the States use the imperial measurements (including gallons) whereas Canada switched to the metric system decades ago.

In any case, Canadians use this slang term for beer.

Fifty

This one is a bit more regional.

In the east of Canada, there is a beer brand called Labatt 50, and this is where the slang term “50” meaning beer comes from.

That said, the term can just refer to any beer, and doesn’t necessarily have to mean this brand.

This slang term is an old one, though, as the brand itself is very old.

Labatt 50 was launched in 1950 to mark 50 years of partnership with another brewery.

So, the slang term has been in use for a long time, probably within around five years of the launch of Labatt 50.

Flat

Next we have another slang term referring to a case of beer.

In Atlantic Canadian slang, a flat also refers to case of 24 beers.

In central and western Canada, they are more likely to simply refer to this as a case of beer.

That said flat sometimes is used.

We really are not sure of the origin of this one.

There are many similar terms used in other areas, such as flat rack cargo used to describe a large shipment of items packed for movement.

It probably has the sense of you shipping a large “flat” of beers.

Half-sack

Next we have half-sack, which is another slang term for a certain amount of beers in a case.

A half –sack refers not to a large crate of beers, but just to a six pack of beers. “Could you go to the store and grab me a half-sack?” for example.

This one is a staple slang phrase as half-sacks are bought much more frequently that flats or twofers.

Again, we don’t really know where this one came from.

Commercial beer bottles or cans have never, as far as we know, been sold in sacks.

It may be a reference to beer-in-a-box, which is actually in a sack inside, but how this would come to mean a six pack of bottles is unclear.

Poverty pack

Another slang term for a six-pack of beer is “poverty pack”.

The name, as you can probably guess, suggests that a pack of six beers just isn’t enough, and that this is what you buy when you don’t have a lot of money.

This term appears to have come into widespread use towards the end of the 20^th Century, though again, we can’t say with much precision where it originated.

Suitcase

Finally, we have one last slang term for a case of beer, the suitcase.

This one is a very recent term, and refers to the way that modern crates of beer tend to have cardboard handles at the top.

When you carry them around, you hold them like you would hold a suitcase!

That’s really all there is to it with this one. It most commonly refers to a 24 pack of beers, if only because this is the most common number of bottles to have in a case.

Many tend to assume that Canada borrows most of its slang from the neighboring United States.

While they certainly do share a lot of the same slang terms for beer, Canada also plainly has a rich lexicon of its own slang terms for beer, too.

These are the most common among those.

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