malt liquor

noun

plural malt liquors

: a fermented liquor made with malt

specifically : a strong, dry beer and especially a lager with a high alcohol content usually in excess of 5 percent and as much as 11 or 12 percent that is produced by adding ingredients (such as corn, rice, or dextrose) to malted barley to increase the level of fermentable sugar present in the wort

Note: Because hops are not added during the brewing process, malt liquor lacks the bitterness often found in many lagers and ales. Malt liquor is typically sold in 40-ounce bottles or cans often called forties and is often not categorized as a beer due to its high alcohol content.

Malt liquor is powerful stuff. It looks and tastes something like regular beer, but any thirsty drinker who confuses the two on a hot summer day will soon be made aware of his mistake.

—The Washington Post

Examples of malt liquor in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

Lance Jimenez, a Los Angeles Fire Department arson investigator, said the explosive was made from a 40-ounce Olde English 800 malt liquor bottle and a silky designer handkerchief. —Michael R. Sisak, Arkansas Online, 30 May 2025

The items were later tested for DNA, Jimenez said, but only the malt liquor bottle yielded results. —Bethany Brown, People.com, 29 May 2025

The jury also saw a picture of the lighter, the 40-ounce Old English 800 malt liquor bottle used to make the Molotov cocktail and a burned handkerchief. —Peter Charalambous, ABC News, 28 May 2025

There was a man riding a toddler’s big wheel with a 40-ounce malt liquor bottle in one hand, and a woman wearing just a torn T-shirt was cursing up a storm. —Barnini Chakraborty, The Washington Examiner, 26 May 2025

Word History

First Known Use

1693, in the meaning defined above

Rhymes for malt liquor

• bicker
• dicker
• flicker
• kicker
• picker
• quicker
• ricker
• sicker
• slicker
• snicker
• sticker
• thicker

Kids Definition

malt liquor

noun

: a fermented liquor (as beer) made with malt