screech

• Format: Manuscript
• Language: English
• Published: 1970
• Subjects: English language > Dialects > Newfoundland and Labrador; Newfoundland
• Online Access: http://collections.mun.ca/cdm/ref/collection/elrcdne/id/44089

screech n Screech is a drink peculiar to Newfoundland. In times gone by it was made by pouring boiling water into empty/ rum barrels to dissolve whatever rummish remains might have lingered there. Molasses and yeast were added to the black, resultant fluid and this mixture was allowed to ferment for a decent length of time before it was distilled. Sometimes it was aged for a few days in a jar containing a plug of nigger-twist chewing tobacco. However the old ways have given way to the new, and Screech is now a different beast. It is the worst conceivable quality of Caribbean rum, bottled by the Newfoundland government under the Screech label, and sold to poor devils who have no great desire to continue (over) [reverse] Screech (cont'd.) living. It is not powerful as it used to be but this defect can be, and often is, remedied by the addition of quantities of lemon extract. Screech is usually served mixed with boiling water. In its consequent near gaseous state the transfer of the alcohol to the blood-stream is instantanenous. Very little is wasted in the digestive tract. PRINTED ITEM W. J. KIRWIN JAN 19 1969 JH 1/70 Used I and Sup Used I and Sup Not used Reverse side of S_14080