Stingo

slang. [f. STING v.¹ (in allusion to the sharp taste) + -o, perh. simulating a Sp. or Ital. ending.] Strong ale or beer.

a. 1635.  Randolph, Hey for Honesty, II. vi. Come, let’s in, and drink a Cup of stingo.

1665.  Brathwait, Comment Two Tales, 32. Returning with a large Quart of mighty Ale, that might compare with Stingo, for it would cut a Feather.

1756.  Connoisseur, No. 105. He would give me a cup of the best Yorkshire Stingo.

1826.  Sporting Mag., XVII. 375. A glass of his Lordship’s old Shropshire stingo.

1891.  N. Gould, Double Event, 307. Host Barnes had tapped a barrel of double stingo for the occasion.

  attrib.  1810.  Splendid Follies, II. 157. My stingo cup … was the horn of a d—d fine buffalo.

1861.  Bentley’s Misc., XLIX. 171. In prose fiction, too, has Thomas Hood turned out some stingo samples of storm-brewing.

1870.  Disraeli, Lothair, xxvii. Tea-gardens and stingo houses.