bathtub gin

plural bathtub gins

1. colloquialcountableuncountableGin or a similar alcoholic beverage which is of very poor quality, as if made by a homebrewer in a bathtub.

   Near-synonyms: rotgut, gut rot, hooch, swill, red-eye, moonshine

   4 more examples

   Part of Dallman's "Three Blind Mice" parody follows: / They called us donkey-braying cranks / But all they gave to win our thanks / Was bathtub gin and busted banks / For twelve long years.

   1936 June 14, “‘Dates as Usual’”, in Milwaukee Journal, retrieved 31 Jul 2013, page 2

   A 1976 Broadway hit, "Bubbling Brown Sugar" recreates the night life of the 1920s - when they drank "scotch in teacups" and bathtub gin.

   1984 December 30, Alvin Klein, “‘Brown Sugar’ Done to a Bubbling Turn (theatre review)”, in New York Times, retrieved 31 Jul 2013

   And Wendy's on the windowsill / Waitin' to be let in / And we're all in the bathtub now / Making bathtub gin

   1990, “Bathtub Gin”, in Lawn Boy, performed by Phish

   It wasn't just the violent Prohibition-era gang wars that were dangerous to Americans drinking homemade moonshine and bathtub gin.

   2008 December 5, “Top 10 Prohibition Tales: Mortal Moonshine”, in Time, archived from the original on 02 Mar 2012

   Synonyms: rotgut, gut rot, hooch, swill, red-eye, moonshine