Vimto

Vimto logo

Vimto is a purple soft drink in the United Kingdom. It contains the juice of grapes, raspberries and blackcurrants.

Vimto was first formulated in 1908 by Manchester herb importer John Noel Nichols and medicine wholeseller David Collett, who saw the market opening for soft drinks due to the temperance movement and the passage of the 1908 Licensing Act (which attempted to drastically reduce the number of licensed premises in England and Wales). It was originally sold under the name Vimtonic, which Nichols shortened to Vimto in 1912. The official 'Vimto History' [1] states that Vimto was originally registered as a health tonic or medicine, which was then re-registered in 1913 as a cordial.

It is currently made by Vimto Soft Drinks Ltd, a division of Nichols plc. It has acquired cult status amongst its consumers and celebrates its 100 year anniversary in 2008.

Vimto has also been made into a sweet and an ice lolly.

Vimto is also manufactured under licence in Saudi Arabia and Yemen, although the formula may be different and more concentrated. Anecdotal evidence suggests that the Arabic version uses an older 'pre-relaunch' formula.

Vimto was, somewhat confusingly, also made under license in the United Kingdom by A.G. Barr and still is under licence in the Boddingtons Factory in Manchester. The Scottish blend was remarkably sweeter than its counterpart made by Vimto Soft Drinks, and helped the drink become more popular in Scotland.

Both a still dilutable version ("Vimto Cordial") and a carbonated pre-mixed version ("Fizzy Vimto") are available in the UK. Whilst Vimto has its origins in the North of England it is increasingly growing in popularity and can now be found nationally. The Cordial version is more widely sold and is available in dilutable cordial and ready to drink varieties. However, make-shift version of the Fizzy variety could theoretically be made by mixing dilutable Vimto cordial with soda (club-soda) or other carbonated water.

Cheeky Vimto is an alcoholic cocktail which tastes like Vimto but, ironically, does not include Vimto in its ingredients. It is made by mixing Port with Blue WKD.

Vimto is also available in a summer flavour, this contains ingredients such as orange ("Who put Oranges in my Vimto?") and Apple ("Who put apples in my Vimto?") both of which are cordial products. Vimto was the UK's fastest growing soft drinks brand by value in 2005 (as measured by AC Nielsen)

Trivia

A statue, "Monument to Vimto" (1992) by Kerry Morrison [2] is situated on Granby Row in central Manchester. The statue commemorates the fact that Vimto was originally produced on this site [3].
During the 1990s, Vimto print advertisements utilised the popular character Purple Ronnie along with slightly rude poems by the creator of Purple Ronnie Giles Andreae which often involved use of the phrase bottom burp.
Munch, a minor character in BBC3 sitcom Two Pints of Lager and a Packet of Crisps, makes several references to Vimto in the series, usually implying that he believes it to be an alcoholic beverage.
Vimto is, rather unfortunately, an anagram of the word vomit.
It is sometimes pronounced as "vimpto" although it doesn't contain a "P"

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