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Buckfast Tonic Wine

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Buckfast Tonic Wine, commonly known as Buckfast, Buckie or Bucky is a tonic wine produced by Buckfast Abbey in Devon, south west England. The wine was first produced in 1890s by the Benedictine monks at Buckfast Abbey using a recipe brought over from France.

The wine was originally sold in small quantities by the Abbey itself, as a medicine with the slogan "Three small glasses a day, for good health and lively blood". In 1927 the Abbey lost its licence to sell wine, as a result of which the Abbot signed a deal with wine merchants to distribute the wine on the Abbey's behalf. At the same time, the recipe was changed in order for the wine to appeal to a wider customer base, resulting in increased sales.

In recent times, Buckfast has achieved a surprising level of popularity within working class and bohemian communities in certain parts of Scotland, Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland. Buckfast sold in the Republic of Ireland has a slightly lower alcoholic strength and arrives in a darker bottle than that of the UK version. In the Republic Buckfast is particularly popular in Galway in the west of Ireland and students in the University there produced a fanzine titled Buckfast Supernova which ran for a number of years in the mid to late 1990's.

Its iconic stature within the ned youth culture is hard to overemphasise and groups of neds can frequently be seen drinking it out of the bottle at all times of day in parks and other public places. Aside from 'Buckie', other nicknames include 'The Wine', 'Tonic', 'commotion lotion' and 'wreck-the-hoose juice'.[1].

In parts of Scotland it is referred to as "Coatbridge Table Wine" (referring to the town of Coatbridge, where the product is so common it is even available "on tap" in some pubs and added to black pudding in some local butcher's shops). It is also available on tap in some pubs in the Northern Irish town of Lurgan.[citation needed] Coatbridge is also known as the "Buckfast Capital" due to the drink's popularity, although there is an extremely high volume of Buckfast drinkers throughout the entire county of Lanarkshire. Statistics record that Lanarkshire accounts for around 10% of worldwide sales, with exports chiefly to Spain, Australia and the Caribbean.[2].

Controversy

File:BuckyinthetankO.jpg
A tanker transporting Buckfast Wine photographed on the A38 in Devon.

Within the above areas, Buckfast is alleged to be the drink of choice for drinkers who are prone to committing anti-social behaviour when drunk, especially underage drinkers. Its high strength (15% ABV/14.8% in the Republic of Ireland), relatively low price and sweetness are characteristics that traditionally appeal to underage drinkers (similar to other 'problem drinks' alcopops and cider).[3]

Many politicians and social activists single out Buckfast Tonic Wine as being particularly responsible for crime, disorder, and general social deprivation in these communities (although in reality, Buckfast is only one of a number of brands consumed abusively and accounts for only 0.5% of alcohol sales in Scotland, although the figure is markedly higher in Lanarkshire - see above). [4] Helen Liddell, former Secretary of State for Scotland, even called for the wine to be banned. In South Lanarkshire shops have been granted an off-licence on the condition they do not sell Buckfast.[5] The Scottish Justice Minister, Cathy Jamieson MSP, suggested that retailers should stop selling Buckfast. On a subsequent visit to Auchinleck, a town within her constituency, she faced an impromptu demonstration by teenagers chanting "Don't ban Buckie".[6] Ms Jamieson subsequently received correspondence from lawyers acting on behalf of J Chandler & Co., the Andover-based distributors of Buckfast. [7] A further consequence was that Buckfast sales increased substantially in the months following her comments.[8]

A further attack was made by Andy Kerr, the Scottish Parliament's Health Minister. In a radio interview on 2006-09-23 he described the drink as "an irresponsible drink in its own right" and a contributor to anti-social behaviour, and was in turn accused of showing "bad manners" and a "complete lack of judgement" by the distributors. [9] Mr. Kerr met with J Chandler & Co. to discuss ways of lessening the drinks impact on the west of Scotland, but the talks broke up without agreement. Both parties hoped to make further progress in the future.

On 2006-11-19, Jack McConnell, the First Minister of Scotland, entered the fray stating that Buckfast is not only particularly attractive to young people for the aforementioned reasons, but had become a "a badge of pride amongst those who are involved in antisocial behaviour." [10] A spokesperson for J Chandler & Co accused the Executive of trying to blame the drinks industry to avoid having to deal with the actual individuals involved in antisocial behaviour.

The monks of Buckfast Abbey and their distribution partners strenuously deny that their product is particularly harmful, saying that it is irresponsibly and illegally enjoyed by the great majority of underage purchasers. They also point out that the areas identified with its acute misuse have been economically deprived for decades, and that Buckfast represents less than one percent of the total alcohol sales in these places.[11].

Ingredients

References

  1. ^ BBC news report
  2. ^ BBC news report
  3. ^ http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk_news/story/0,3604,859701,00.html
  4. ^ http://news.scotsman.com/scotland.cfm?id=494912005
  5. ^ http://www.bawbag.com/buckfast-news.php
  6. ^ http://www.eveningtimes.co.uk/hi/news/5035714.html
  7. ^ http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Resource/Doc/1066/0011297.pdf
  8. ^ http://news.scotsman.com/scotland.cfm?id=494912005
  9. ^ http://scotlandonsunday.scotsman.com/politics.cfm?id=1410682006
  10. ^ http://thescotsman.scotsman.com/scotland.cfm?id=1715022006&bad=178112
  11. ^ BBC news report
  12. ^ http://www.everything2.com/index.pl?node_id=642460
  13. ^ http://www.epa.gov/pesticides/biopesticides/ingredients/factsheets/factsheet_176407.htm

See also

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