rotgut

From rot +‎ gut.

rotgut (usually uncountable, plural rotguts)

1. (slang) Raw or poor-quality alcoholic liquor.

   Synonyms: gut rot, hooch, swill

   Near-synonym: red-eye

   • 1913 August, Jack London, chapter VI, in John Barleycorn, New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., →OCLC, page 48:

     Then the harpooner carried away a pink flask to be filled in some blind pig, for there were no licensed saloons in that locality. We drank the cheap rotgut out of tumblers.

   • 2019 July 16, Colson Whitehead, chapter 10, in The Nickel Boys, Vintage, page 125:

     His mother, Dorothy, hung around longer, long enough for her to choke on her own vomit. She had that taste—rotgut, the rougher the better.

• rot gut

• gut rot