Irish Slang For Beer (Helpful Content!)

The most common Irish slang terms for beer include “gargle” and “juice”. These are both catch-all, universal terms for beer that can be used in any context. “Gat” is a specific slang term for Guiness, usually a “pint of gat”. Other more widely used slang terms for specific kinds of beer are sometimes used in Ireland such as “tinnie”.

It’s no secret that the Irish are fairly big drinkers, and so naturally with that comes a lot of different slang terms to describe just about every kind of alcohol.

Like most other countries on Earth, beer is among the most popular drinks in Ireland, so naturally again there are quite a few slang terms for beer.

Let’s find out more.

In This Article

What do the Irish call beer?

The Irish have a few different terms for beer which may all be employed by the same person in different contexts.

They can have slightly different meanings depending on what kind of beer you’re talking about, or the context in which you are drinking it.

One of the most common ways to refer to beer is as “gargle” in one way or another.

If you are out drinking beer all night, you might say you are “on the gargle”. Equally, you might just “have a gargle”, meaning one drink.

This term can also mean any alcohol, though it most often just means beer.

In Belfast specifically, although it is also used more widely throughout the country, another common slang term for beer is “juice”.

Again, in some cases, some people may use this to refer to alcohol as a whole, but more often it simply refers to beer.

Obviously, juice can also mean soft drinks, but in the slang context, it typically means beer.

“Let’s go have a pint of juice, shall we?” for example.

It will likely come as no surprise to you that Guinness is the most popular beer in Ireland, accounting for around 25% of all beer sales.

Naturally, then, the term “gat” is one of the most common slang terms for beer, though it specifically refers to Guinness.

Some may even start using it just to mean any beer.

Either way, simply because of the popularity of Guinness, “gat” is one of the most common slang terms for beer in Ireland. “I’ll have a pint of gat, please,” for example.

Though more common in Britain, “tinnie” is sometimes used as a slang term for cans of beer in Ireland.

Why do the Irish say “gargle”?

It’s not really clear when this term first came to be used in Ireland as a general slang term for beer.

The word itself is naturally quite old, deriving from the 16th Century where it was borrowed from the French gargouiller, meaning to gurgle or bubble.

To “gargle” something simply means to hold it in your mouth and breathe up into it, as you would with mouthwash.

Of course, no one literally does this with beer.

It simply became a slang term in the sense of endlessly drinking lots of beer, or sometimes having just one of two, to the point that you are “gargling” it.

This term seems to have come into use in Irish slang in the 19th or 20th Centuries–we just can’t say for sure.

Why do the Irish say “juice”?

As mentioned, this term is a lot more common in Belfast than it is elsewhere in Ireland, but at the same time you are still likely to hear it in other places.

This is a very common convention in the English speaking world, to simply take another term for a liquid or drink of some kind and simply have it stand in for beer.

This term was first attested as meaning “alcohol” in general in 1828, and so was probably in use for beer in Ireland by the end of the 19th Century.

Why do the Irish say “gat”?

Again, it’s not entirely clear where the term “gat” comes from.

The most likely explanation, though, is to do with where Guinness is brewed.

The primary and original Guinness brewery in Dublin was and is located St. James’s Gate, which was established in 1759.

It’s thought that the term simply derives from the shortening of the word “gate” to “gat based on where the drink is brewed in Dublin.

We have very few written attestations of this slang term, though, in the past, so it’s hard to be sure–-but this seems the most likely explanation.

Why do the Irish say “tinnie”?

“Tinnie” is certainly not the most uniquely Irish slang term on this list, but you are likely to hear it from time to time.

As mentioned, it simply refers to a can or tin of beer, rather than just beer in general; it’s about the vessel rather than the drink.

Sometimes, you may hear other alcohol referred to as a “tinnie” if it is in tin.

However, beer is by far the most common meaning of tinnie, and the word is simply derived from the word “tin” with a diminutive suffix.

So there are a handful of slang terms for beer in Ireland, with some being by far the most commonly used depending on the context and kind of beer.

Guinness is unsurprisingly one of if not the most popular beer in Ireland, so you are perhaps most likely just to hear beer describe as “gat” in Ireland.

To be out on the beers all night could be called being “on the gargle”.

In Belfast, you might hear beer called “juice”.

More in Irish Slang

Founder - @PollyWebster

Polly Webster is the founder of Foreign Lingo and a seasoned traveler with a decade of exploration under her belt.

Over the past 10 years, she has journeyed to numerous countries around the globe, immersing herself in diverse cultures, traditions, and languages.

Drawing from her rich experiences, Polly now writes insightful articles about travel, languages, traditions, and cultures, sharing her unique perspectives and invaluable tips with her readers.

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