Green’s Dictionary of Slang

1. of alcoholic drinks, inferior; whether beer, wine, whisky or any other cheap liquor.

1660		J. Tatham Rump I i: Not in Rot-gut Beer, I assure you, or Muddy Ale.
1703		T. Baker Tunbridge Walks III i: Dam Rotgut Rhenish, we’ll have Mrs. Motion’s health in a Bumper of Barcelona.
1789		G. Parker Life’s Painter 40: That [...] is better than all the rot-gut wine that ever came from Popish grounds .
1796		‘Peter Pindar’ ‘The Sick Lady and the Almanack’ Works (1835) 68: A poor old woman, with diarrhoea, Brought on by slip-slop tea and rot-gut beer, Went to Sangrado with a woeful face.
1818		W. Perry London Guide 202: One who more obsequiously draws their rot-gut stuff.
1830		Marryat King’s Own II 216: The master requested a glass of grog, as the rot-gut French wines had given him a pain in the bowels.
1857		T. Hughes Tom Brown’s School-Days (1896) 107: Then there’s fuddling about in the public-house, and drinking bad spirits, and punch, and such rot-gut stuff.
1900		Sporting Times 2 June 10/2: ‘Will you take a liqueur with your coffee?’ [...] ‘No thanks; never touch ’em. Rot-gut stuff!’.
1903		H. Hapgood Autobiog. of a Thief 259: These latter usually wind up with rot-gut booze and are sometimes seen selling songs on Bowery.
1904		Truth (Syney) 10 July 1/2: In the land of lousy liars, / Rot gut bribes & tickey beer.
c.1930		(ref. to 1900s) N. Kimball Amer. Madam (1981) 175: Whores [...] peddling their quim and quiff for a thumbnail of cocaine or a tot of rot-gut whisky.
1939		P. Cheyney Don’t Get Me Wrong (1956) 11: Suckin’ in Mexican dust, frijoles an’ rot-gut tequila.
1953		J. Thompson Savage Night (1991) 41: Goofballs [...] A few of those in that rotgut wine and . .
1954		Mirror (Perth) 8 May 1/1: [headline] Scandal of Illicit Rot-Gut Liquor.
1959		L. Block ‘Burning Fury’ in One Night Stands (2008) 51: He tossed off the shot of rot-gut rye.
1963		L.F. Freed Crime in S. Afr. 83: The place was dimly lit and the air reeked of rot-gut whisky, male sweat, and cheap perfume.
1965		H. Rhodes Chosen Few (1966) 50: She called it rotgut poison.
1969		‘Iceberg Slim’ Mama Black Widow 148: That rot gut gin he guzzles has him seeing what is not.
1969		‘Iceberg Slim’ Pimp 39: A pint of ‘rot gut’ whiskey brought from seven and a half to ten dollars.
1972		O. Hawkins Ghetto Sketches 86: Gimme some of that rotgut pluck!
1986		L. Heinemann Paco’s Story (1987) 38: Swilling that rotgut vodka and bouncing in their seats.
1986		S. King It (1987) 454: The stuff you could get in town was ten times as good as the rotgut whiskey and bathtub gin you could get at the white boys’ NCO.
1997		G. Sikes 8 Ball Chicks (1998) 13: If freebasing pure cocaine was the equivalent of an expensive champagne, crack was a cheap rotgut wine.
2000		Indep. on Sun. 30 Jan. 26: Once disparaged outside Mexico as rot-gut ‘cactus juice’, tequila now is a runaway success.
2010		K. Richards Life 280: Bad red wine. Thunderbird and Ripple, the worst fucking rotgut wines there are.

2. in fig. use, second-rate.

1967		R. Conot Rivers of Blood 319: ‘It’s a rotgut deal!’ said Dale. ‘"I don't have no more respect for the fucking law now. They can’t protect your property, and they won’t let you protect it yourself!’.
2023		F. Bill Back to the Dirt 207: ‘Have some goddamned manner about your rotgut ass’.