Baby 1. Newcomer at Alcoholics Anonymous. 2. Small bottle of wine or liquor, about six and a half ounces.

Baby and Nurse Small bottle containing soda water mixed with some alcohol. The baby is the bottle and the nurse is the alcohol.

Babycham Sparkling perry.

Babysitter Alcoholism counsellor. BAC Blood alcohol concentration.

Bacardi Popular brand of white rum. Bacchanal, Bacchanalia Drinking spree.

Bacchant A drunkard.

Bacchante Female drunkard.

Bacchation Drunken spree. From fusion of vacation and Bacchanal.

Baccus Wine.

Badminton Alcohol beverage popular in England and United States during the late 1800s. Made with cucumber, sugar, nutmeg, soda water, and claret.

BAL Blood alcohol level. Ball 1. A drink. 2. Glass of whiskey followed by a glass of beer.

Balloon Plain round-balled, stemmed glass.

Bar 1. Place where alcoholic beverages are sold, usually featuring a special counter or bar, behind which stands the bartender. Food is generally not served. 2. The counter behind which the bartender stands.

Barfly Frequent patron of a barroom.

Barleycorn Spirits Diarrhoea from excessive use of alcohol.

Barrel Fever 1. Drunk. 2. Delirium Tremens. 3. Alcoholism. Barrel House 1. Bar; place where alcohol is consumed. 2. Place where the dregs from liquor barrels was sold to destitute alcoholics. 3. Speakeasy catering to a poor clientele during the Prohibition

Barrel Largr container for beer or wine. Sizes of barrels include the butt (108 gallons); puncheon (72 gallons); hogshead (54 gallons); barrel (36 gallons); kilderkin (18 gallons); firkin (9 gallons); and the pin (4 1/2 gallons). All volumes are Imperial gallons.

Bastard Sweet wine from Spain, popular in England during seventeenth century.

Bathtub Gin Liquor illegally made by mixing alcohol with oil of juniper so that it tasted somewhat like gin.

Beaujolais Fruity red wine from Beaujolais, France.

Beer 1. Alcoholic beverage made by fermenting barley or other grains and flavoured with hops. Contains between three to six percent alcohol. 2. To drink beer.

Beer, Dark Usually stout or porter, beers made by roasting malt which imparts a burnt taste and dark colour.

Beer Garden Outdoor area next to a tavern where beer is served at tables.

Beer Money Money given to English soldiers or servants instead of allowance of beer.

Bender 1. Prolonged period of alcohol consumption. 2. A drunkard.

Bender On a drinking spree.

Benedictine Type of liqueur.

Benzodiazepines Tranquilliser drug used for the treatment of alcohol withdrawal symptoms. Examples include diazepam (valium), lorazepam (ativan) and chlordiazepoxide (librium).

Beriberi Nutritional deficiency disease occasionally related to very heavy and long-term alcohol use. Symptoms include general weakness, paralysis, palpitations and heart failure.

Bevvy Slang term for alcoholic beverage.

Bibacious Drunk.

Bilirubin Orange-yellow pigment derived from haem.

Bishop Popular drink during 1700s and 1800s made with hot port wine, sugar, oranges, and clove.

Bitter Diminutive of bitter beer.

Bitter Ale Ale made with more than usual amount of hops.

Bitters 1. As for bitter ale. 2. Bitter alcoholic drink made with various herbs and roots taken to stimulate the appetite.

Bitter Stout Style of stout (inc. Guinness).

Blood alcohol concentration Level of amount of alcohol in the blood as a percentage of 100 millilitres of blood.

Blood alcohol level The level of alcohol that has been absorbed by the body into the blood stream.

Bone Dry 1. Abstinent. 2. Favouring prohibition.

Bootlegger One who makes, sells, or distributes illegal liquor.

Booze, Bouse 1. Alcohol. 2. To drink alcohol. 3. To drink to or past the point of drunkenness.

Bottle 1. Container for liquor or wine. Bottle sizes include the magnum (double bottle), jeroboam (double magnum), rehoboam (6 bottles), methuselah (4 magnums), salamanazar (6 magnums), balthazar (8 magnums), and nebuchanezzar (10 magnums). 2. A drunkard.

Bouncer Employee in a bar who evicts noisy or drunken customers.

Bouquet Collection of smells and aroma given off by wine.

Bourbon Form of whiskey made with at least 51 percent corn grain which is then aged in new charred white oak barrels.

Bout Drinking spree.

Bracer Drink taken to steady the nerves or to regain equanimity.

Brahms and Listz Cockney rhyming slang denoting drunkenness.

Brandy Type of spirits distilled from wine or fruit mash containing about 40 percent alcohol. The type of fruit used to produce it typically precedes the name, e.g., cherry brandy. Generally aged in oak casks for 5 years.

Breath alcohol Alcohol present in the breath and used to estimate amount of alcohol in the blood.

Breathalyser Instrument for measuring the amount of alcohol in the breath. This amount is then converted by the instrument into an estimate of the amount of alcohol in the blood.

Brew 1. To make beer or ale. 2. Beer.

Breweriania Collectable items associated with breweries and public houses.

Brewer's Yeast Type of yeast, Saccharomyces cerevisia, specially cultured for brewing beer.

Brewery Place where beer and ale are made.

British Sherry Sherry-style wine made in the U.K. from grape concentrate.

British Wine Wine made in the U.K. from imported reconstituted grape concentrate.

Brown ale Ale made from kiln-dried malt causing the ale to turn brown.

Brut Term used to describe very dry wine. Primarily used in connection with champagne.

Bubbly 1. Champagne. 2. Rum.

Buckfast Wine Tonic wine produced from French wine by Benedictine monks in Devon.