dry drunk
n.— «He has hit upon the “dry drunk” scheme as a way to indulge his appetite without hurting his conscience. He is employed as a porter, and every night before he quits work he takes particular pains in cleaning up the wine cellar. He devotes about twenty minutes to smelling the bunghole of a barrel containing a particularly strong brand of cognac, after which he staggers homeward with all the symptoms of a regular “howling jag.”» —“A Secret Way of Getting Drunk” Arizona Republic (Phoenix) Nov. 17, 1891. (source: Double-Tongued Dictionary)
Further reading
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