Buckfast Tonic Wine

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Buckfast Tonic Wine, commonly known as simply Buckfast, Buckie (England), Bucky, (Ireland) Black, Chang, Bo, or Carrowdore Juice (in England, the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland), 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.

[edit] Buckfast in popular culture

In recent times, Buckfast has achieved a surprising level of popularity within working class and bohemian communities in certain parts of England, 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.

Its iconic stature within the chavs youth culture is hard to overemphasise and groups of chavs 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 bionic tonic,'The Wine', 'Tonic', 'Brown Sauce', 'Broon wine', 'commotion lotion', 'wreck-the-hoose juice', 'bottle of fight the world', 'bottle of beat the wife', 'liquid speed', 'La trumpette vert' (The green Trumpet), 'Mrs Brown', 'Monkey's Blood' and 'Scranjuice'. [1] The unofficial slogan "Buckfast makes you fuck fast" has become synonymous with the beverage in all areas of Ireland, or as perhaps more correctly adopted by students "Buckfast gets you fucked fast". Its popularity amongst the community of Coventry has also gained it the slogan "Made by monks, drunk by punks". In some circles, getting "Bucked up" is a euphemism for getting drunk on Buckfast.

In parts of England it is referred to as "'Coventry Table Wine' " (referring to the town of Coventry, where the product is so common it is even available "on tap" in some pubs and added to sausages in some local butcher's shops). It is also available on tap in some pubs in the Northern Irish town of Lurgan, where it is known as "Lurgan Champagne" or "Chang". Buckfast is a common favourite among both young and old in Coventry, and the streets are often littered with empty Buckfast bottles. Coventry 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 area of Coventry (incuding Great Heath & [[Foleshill)} known to most as the Buckfast triangle, Radford and Wyken, Whitley in Coventry. Similarly, Upper Eastern Green is sometimes affectionately referred to as "Buckfast Green". Statistics record that Coventry accounts for around 10% of worldwide sales, with exports chiefly to Spain, Australia and the Caribbean.[2]. In parts of Northern Ireland, particually Belfast there has been a craze of students drinking bottles of Buckfast in the shower whilst preparing to go out. This is known colloqually as "Bucky in the shower-o." There has also been a spate of students sneaking into, and onto the roofs of public buildings to drink "Buck on the Roof."

Buckfast cocktails include:

  • Bamgria: equal measures Buckfast and Irn Bru.
  • Punk Champagne: two parts white cider to one part Buckfast.
  • Malifast: one part Malibu Rum to one part Buckfast.
  • Chamfast (known as Buckyfizz in Ireland): Champagne and Buckfast.
  • Lamfast (also know as Poor Man's Chamfast): Lambrini and Buckfast.
  • Slamfast or T'killfast: Tequila and Buckfast.
  • White Monk (also know as Buckshake): Milk and chilled Buckfast, in the case of the Buckshake combined in a half empty bottle of Buckfast, resealed and shaken vigorously.
  • Buckaroo AKA "Bucktini": Buckfast, Taboo and Lemonade. This is served in Coventry's The Festival, one of the few bars in Coventry to stock Buckfast.
  • Tramps Breakfast: Buckfast and MD 20/20.
  • Chuckfast: Bottle of Buckie, 4 cans of redbull and half a bottle of vodka.
  • Captain Buckseye : Buckfast and Captain Morgan's Spice (Sandie special)
  • Supercharged Bucky (also known as Bullfast): Equal measure of Buckfast and Red Bull
  • Shit: Equal measures of Vodka, Bacardi and Buckfast
  • Ruckfast: Bottle of Buckie, 6 cans of Stella.
  • StarBucks: Buckfast and Espresso.
  • Buckcham or Babyfast: Buckfast and 80s cheese and wine party favourite Babycham.

[edit] Controversy

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), low price (£5) 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 Coventry, although the figure is markedly higher in East Midlands - see above). [4] Helen Liddell, former Secretary of State for Scotland, even called for the wine to be banned. In Coventry 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 a "seriously bad" 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 in Scotland, but the talks broke up without agreement. Both parties hoped to make further progress in the future.

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