Alcoholic Drink Names You're Probably Mispronouncing

The names of alcoholic beverages aren’t all as easy to say as rum. Here’s how to pronounce 14 tricky ones—a mixture of drink types and the brands we know them by.

1. Baijiu
2. Cachaça
3. Caipirinha
4. Curaçao
5. Hefeweizen
6. Hoegaarden
7. Kirsch
8. Maraschino
9. Moët
10. Pinot Gris
11. Sake
12. Veuve Clicquot
13. Viognier
14. Weihenstephaner

Baijiu

Baijiu, meaning “white spirits,” refers to a wide variety of colorless Chinese grain liquors. According to Drink Baijiu, a website devoted to sharing information about the drink, “different types of baijiu can be as distinct as whiskey is to tequila.” The term is pronounced “BY-jyo.”

Cachaça

Brazil’s most famous liquor is cachaça, a distilled spirit made from sugarcane. The word is pronounced “kah-SHAH-sah,” though the first and last vowels are often reduced to something more like “kuh-SHAH-suh.”

Caipirinha

Cachaça is the key ingredient in Brazil’s national cocktail, the caipirinha, along with lime and sugar. Caipirinha is pronounced “ky-pee-REEN-yah.”

Curaçao

Curaçao is a liqueur traditionally made from the dried peel of a type of orange found on Curaçao, a Caribbean island. The word is pronounced “KYUR-uh-soh,” but variations abound (e.g., “KYUR-uh-sow,” where the final syllable rhymes with cow).

Hefeweizen

Hefeweizen is technically short for Hefeweizenbier, literally “yeast wheat beer” in German. It’s pronounced “HEH-fuh-vite-sen,” (“vite” like kite).

Hoegaarden

The name of this classic Belgian white beer is pronounced “HOO-gar-den.”

Kirsch

Kirsch is pronounced “KEERSH.” It’s the name of a brandy made from black morello cherries—shortened from Kirschwasser, German for “cherry water.”

Maraschino

Speaking of cherries, maraschino is a clear liqueur made from marasca cherries. Its name is borrowed from Italian, so the correct pronunciation is “mare-uh-SKEE-noh.” But so many English speakers say “mare-uh-SHEE-noh” that dictionaries accept that, too.

Moët

Moët is shorthand for champagne produced by the French company Moët & Chandon. According to a company spokesperson, you should pronounce the t—“MOH-et”—because their namesake, 18th-century French vintner Claude Moët, had Dutch ancestors.

Pinot Gris

But you shouldn’t pronounce the t (or the s) of pinot gris: “PEE-noh GREE.” The white wine variety is essentially the French version of Italy’s pinot grigio.

Sake

Japan’s most famous alcoholic beverage—brewed from fermented rice—is technically pronounced “SAH-keh,” not “SAH-kee.”

Veuve Clicquot

This French champagne brand name is pronounced “VUV klee-KOH.”

Viognier

The name of this white wine (or more specifically, the type of grape certain white wines come from) from France’s Rhône Valley is pronounced “vee-ohn-YAY.”

Weihenstephaner

A Weihenstephaner is any beer from the Bavarian brewery Weihenstephan. Pronunciation varies by accent, but American English speakers can’t go wrong with “vine-SHTEH-fah-nur.”

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