Green’s Dictionary of Slang

crimea n.²

beer.

1898		Illus. Police News 13 Aug. 11/4: Witness : Crimea? Oh, that's the slang for beer. (Loud laughter).
1911		J.W. Horsley Memoirs of a ‘Sky Pilot’ 253: The children gave me such words as [...] ‘Crimea’ for beer, or even ‘brussel-sprout’ for boy scout.
1936		(con. 1900s) F. Richards Old Soldier Sahib (1965) 41: A good deal of rhyming slang was used in those days [...] Beer was [...] ‘Crimea.’.
1978		Maledicta II:1+2 (Summer/Winter) 116: The peculiar Cockney pronunciation of castle (carsole) is to be found also in rhyming slang such as Crimea (‘beer’).
1981		P. Wright Cockney Dialect and Sl. 99: Beer can also be Crimea.
2002		B. Kirkpatrick Wicked Cockney Rhy. Sl.