Today there are almost as many slang names for alcohol as there are types of alcohol itself, and equally there are different slang names that hail from different parts of the world. Here we have featured a selection of the most popular slang names for alcohol, and a little information about when the term was coined, and more importantly, why.

Popular Terms

Booze
Booze is probably one of the most widely used slang names for alcohol. The term dates back to the 14th Century and was traditionally used when describing drinking alcohol to excess.
Hooch
Hooch is a term that was traditionally used to describe alcohol that was home-made, and became a wide-spread slang name during the time of prohibition when alcohol had to be made illicitly.
Moonshine
Moonshine is another slang name that was once used to describe alcohol that was produced illicitly, traditionally corn whisky.
Tipple
This is a common alcoholic slang name that is very inoffensive, and can also refer to drinking small amounts of alcohol rather than drinking to excess.
Toddy
The term “toddy” comes from the traditional alcoholic drink that consisted of warm liquor, usually rum, mixed with water, spices and sugar.
Red-eye
Red-eye traditionally refers to a cheap whiskey but is today a slang name for other types of alcohol too, probably for the effects that alcohol can sometimes have on the eyes.
Juice
Juice is a slang name for alcohol that can be used very inoffensively in public situations.

Slang For Being "Drunk"

The above list of slang name describe alcohol itself, while the following slang names describe somebody as being drunk from alcohol: Hammered, Tanked, Wasted, Plastered, Canned, Sloshed, Housed, Juiced-up & Crocked.

It’s interesting to note where a lot of these names came from, with many of them having been used for hundreds of years as traditional terms that are today gaining in popularity as slang names. Do you know a common term used to describe alcohol that we have not included on this page?