DCHP-1 Online

hootchinoo [< Tlingit khutsnuwu, literally, grizzly bear fort, an Indian people and village on Admiralty Island, where it was first made] Yukon

• 1 n. a kind of home brew. See 1937 quote.

  See also: hootch (def. 1)  

  • c1898  (1966)  Whenever whisky runs short the Yukoner falls back upon a villanous decoction . . . known as "hootchinoo," or "hootch."
  • 1904  Three-Tongued Lightning from the Peel River did the left alaman with the brown-skinned maiden from the Tanana, while the hootchinoo-soaked son of the Fortymile forest led the grand right and left with the walrus-greased lass from the McKenzie.
  • 1937  The white man sold them "Forty Rod" whiskey, then taught them to manufacture "Hooch." They were instructed in this art by a discharged soldier named Doyle, who went to Hootznahoo, showed them how to distill a villainous compound from molasses, yeast, berries, sugar, or other compounds. It was first so called from the village, "Hootznahoo" paraphrased as "Hoochinoo," then shortened to "Hooch," and the name lives even until this day.
  • 1958  Another was to collect the excise duty on all locally made hootchinoo.

• 2 n. Slang a drinker of hootchinoo; any heavy drinker.

  • 1910  "And I'm sure going to win, and sixty days is a long time between drinks, so I pay now. Name your brand, you hoochinoos! Name your brand!"