Green’s Dictionary of Slang

(orig. US) a liquor store, a bar, anywhere where alcohol is sold.

1840		J.P. Kennedy Quodlibet 111: He walked toward the Drinkery, ruminating over his wrongs.
1845		T.J. Green Journal of the Texian Expedition 368: We wended our way up town, and called into the first open ‘drinkery’.
1865		Madison Daily Eve. Courier 27 Sept. 4/1: Boys are allowed to lounge around some of the drinkeries, billiard-rooms, ten-pin alleys, &c., of the city [DA].
1910		Bulletin (Sydney) 11 Aug. 11/1: [...] if a client gets really tight he has to be secluded [...] if it’s a drinkery that hasn’t squared the police.
1919		E.H. Blichfeldt A Mexican Journey 255: If his ordeal is to be before a shoe shop instead of a ‘drinkery,’ then he will probably have a pair of shoes or a hat which will be coveted by the people.
1944		C.S. Montanye ‘Death with Music’ in Thrilling Detective Feb. 🌐 A couple of expert targeteers from Toledo wandered into a Second Avenue drinkery.
1999		L.L. King A Writer’s Life in Letters 287: They said it would take three minutes and would be done at night in front of Elaine’s drinkery in Manhattan.
2000		T.G. Rees Hatteras Affair 58: They did not hear any sounds of a bar room brawl, so they stepped into the dark drinkery.