What did the English call alcohol before they had the word alcohol?

Here is an interesting article on the etymology of alcohol. It claims that in Middle English, they callled intoxicants licur (which we know as liquor) - which means, well, liquid - and bouse (which we know as booze), which was the word for "beer", and applied in the general to drink, especially in verb form (bousen).

Spirits:

An alcoholic beverage, especially distilled liquor; Also a scientific term: An alcohol solution of an essential or volatile substance.

Origin: 1200–50; Middle English (noun) < Latin spīritus orig., a breathing, equivalent to spīri-, combining form representing spīrāre to breathe + -tus suffix of v. action

Ether is another term to consider, since the language of your question seems to lean in the scientific direction:

An organic compound in which two hydrocarbon groups are linked by an oxygen atom, having the general structure ROR', where R and R' are the two hydrocarbon groups. At room temperature, ethers are pleasant-smelling liquids resembling alcohols but less dense and less soluble in water.

Origin: 1350–1400; Middle English < Latin aethēr the upper air, pure air, ether < Greek aithḗr, akin to aíthein to glow, burn, Old English ād funeral pyre, Latin aestus heat

In older scientific literature, ether had many different meanings and usages. See: The Composition and Structure of Ether:

The preparation of alcohol (spirit of wine, vinic alcohol, ethanol, ethyl alcohol) by fermentation dates to antiquity. Closely related to alcohol -- both through history and chemistry -- is ether (ethyl ether, diethyl ether) a compound obtained from alcohol by the action of oil of vitriol (sulfuric acid).

Or (if you're talking about liquor):

Drink:

liquor; alcohol.

which is even earlier:

Origin:before 900; Middle English drinken, Old English drincan; cognate with Dutch drinken, German trinken, Gothic drinkan, Old Norse drekka

Alcohol is a later addition to the language:

Alcohol:

Origin: 1535–45; < Neo-Latin < Medieval Latin < Arabic al-ku?l the powdered antimony, the distillate