Low-end fortified wine
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A low-end fortified wine, commonly known as bum wine, wino wine, twist-cap wine or rotgut wine, is any of a class of inexpensive fortified wines that are popular among the poor, homeless, and college students in the United States for the quick inebriation they deliver[1].
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[edit] Popular examples
Some popular beverages in this category are Thunderbird, MD 20/20, Cisco, Night Train, and Wild Irish Rose. Buckfast Tonic Wine[1] and formerly Ripple have similar reputations, though Ripple is no longer produced[1]. In Canada, Bright's Pale Dry Select Sherry is considered a potent low-end fortified wine[1]. Another such wine that is out of production is Sly Fox[1]. These wines typically have an alcohol content of between 15 and 20% ABV. Other characteristics include added sugars, artificial colorings and flavorings. Cities like San Francisco, New York and Seattle have banned the sale of various types of these wine products in downtown, skid row and Tenderloin areas.[2]
In contrast to table wine, which may be enjoyed as an accompaniment to a meal, or high-end fortified wine, enjoyed as an aperitif or digestif, low-end fortified wines are generally considered suitable only for intoxication. Note that its classification as "wine" is a very loosely used term, and many people refer to it as "hooch", "street wine", "fortified wine", "bum wine", or "twist-cap wine".
- Two popular brands in this category are produced by the E & J Gallo Winery, and were a large part of the company's sales in the company's early days. Currently, neither carries the logo or other indication of this source although "Boone's Farm" (produced by E&J) does (13.9% ABV). These are Night Train Express (usually abbreviated to Night Train, and even has a song named for it) and Thunderbird (The American Classic). Night Train typically contains 17.5% alcohol by volume. Thunderbird is sold at between 13% and 18% ABV and first became popular in the 1950s. Its popularity led to the introduction of Thunderbird ESQ. Night Train Express has been a very controversial brand among civic leaders in major cities as it is felt that Night Train, as well as other inexpensive high liquor content drinks, contribute to vagrancy and public drunkenness of homeless people. Thunderbird was once marketed in the United Kingdom as "The California Aperitif."
- MD 20/20 a.k.a. Mad Dog is an American fortified "wine" produced by Mogen David wineries. MD 20/20 has an alcohol content that varies by flavor from 13% to 18% (with most of the 18% varieties discontinued, although Red Grape is widely available from the 18% category). The "MD" stands for "Mogen David," the name of the company based in Westfield, New York which makes it; the company is named after the Star of David, which in the original Hebrew is Magen David (pronounced mah-GEN dah-VEED) or Yiddish (pronounced MUH-gen DUH-vid), literally meaning "Shield of David;" the product's aficionado dubbed it "Mad Dog" to represent the initials "MD". At colleges it is often traditional for fraternities to "Mad Dog" a prospective recruit by knocking on his door at daybreak and forcing him to drink the bottle quickly. It is known for its pleasant high and painful aftereffects, but also as an initiation rite.
- Cisco is the brand name of a highly alcoholic, low-price fortified wine, produced by the Centerra Wine Company (a division of Constellation Brands) with varieties selling at 17.5% and 19.5% alcohol by volume. Cisco has a distinctive syrup-sweet taste and, because of its color and bottle shape, was often mistaken for a wine cooler. The Federal Trade Commission forced the company to put a label on the bottle stating it was not a wine cooler and had the company change its marketing strategy from "Takes You By Surprise".[3].
- Ripple was an inexpensive fortified wine produced by E & J Gallo Winery[4] that was popular among certain social classes in the United States, particularly in the 1970s. Due to its high alcohol content and low price, it had a reputation as a drink for alcoholics and the destitute. It was popular among young drinkers, both underage and college students. It is no longer produced.
- Richard's Wild Irish Rose is an alcoholic beverage produced by Canandaigua Wine Company, which is part of the Constellation Brands organization. It was introduced in 1954 and currently sells about two million cases annually. The brand is available in 13.9% and 18% alcohol by volume. The 13.9% wine has 115 calories (480 kJ) per 100 ml or 136 calories (570 kJ) per 4 ounces. The 18% product has about 138 calories (578 kJ) per 100 ml or 164 calories (687 kJ) per 4 ounces.
[edit] History
An early reference to the problem of cheap and poorly made wines is in the "Report on Cheap Wines" in the November 5, 1864 issue of The Medical Times and Gazette. The author, in prescribing inexpensive wines for a number of ills, cautions against the "fortified" wines of the day, describing of one sample that he had tried:
When the cork was drawn it was scarcely tinted, and was a very bad one - a thing of no good augury for the wine. There was no smell of port wine. The liquid, when tasted, gave the palate half-a-dozen sensations instead of one. There was a hot taste of spirits, a sweet taste, a fruity taste like damsons, and an unmistakable flavor of Roussillon. It was a strong, unwholesome liquor, purchased very dearly.[5]
It is reported, however, that the popularity of cheap, fortified wines in the United States arose in the 1930s, as a product of Prohibition and the Great Depression:
Prohibition produced the Roaring Twenties and fostered more beer and distilled-spirit drinkers than wine drinkers, because the raw materials were easier to come by. But fortified wine, or medicinal wine tonic—-containing about 20 percent alcohol, which made it more like a distilled spirit than regular wine--was still available and became America's number one wine. Thunderbird and Wild Irish Rose, to name two examples, are fortified wines. American wine was soon more popular for its effect than its taste; in fact, the word wino came into use during the Depression to describe those unfortunate souls who turned to fortified wine to forget their troubles.
—Kevin Zraly, Kevin Zraly's American Wine Guide (2006) p. 38.
[edit] Concerns and media attention
More recently, the appeal of cheap fortified wines to the poor and homeless has raised concerns:
Community groups in Los Angeles, San Francisco, Seattle, and Portland have urged makers of fortified wines such as Wild Irish Rose and E & J Gallo's Thunderbird and Night Train brands to pull their products from the shelves of liquor retailers in skid row areas. In Nashville, Tennessee, one liquor store owner told Nashville Business Journal reporter Julie Hinds that police warned him to stop selling his biggest selling product, Wild Irish Rose, because it encouraged homeless people to linger in the area.
—Janice Jorgensen, Encyclopedia of Consumer Brands: Consumable Products (1993), p. 492.
In 2005, the Seattle City Council asked the Washington State Liquor Control Board to prohibit the sale of certain alcohol products in an impoverished "Alcohol Impact Area". Among the products sought to be banned were over two dozen beers, and six wines: Cisco, Gino's Premium Blend, MD 20/20, Night Train, Thunderbird, and Wild Irish Rose.[6] The Liquor Control Board approved these restrictions on August 30, 2006, and the ban came into effect on November 1, 2006.[7]
[edit] Songs about fortified wine
Floridian punk band Roach Motel had a song called Mad Dog 20 20
Irish rock band U2 have recorded a song called 'Wild Irish Rose'. In a radio interview, Bono has stated that he found out about the drink during the filming of the video for the song 'The Ground Beneath Her Feet' at 'The Million Dollar Hotel' in Los Angeles.
Musician Seasick Steve released a song entitled 'Thunderbird' on his E.P. It's All Good, in which he talks about drinking Thunderbird during his time living as a hobo in America.
Hard rock band Guns n' Roses released the song Nightrain on their 1987 album Appetite for Destruction, referring to a brand of cheap wine called Night Train Express.
Folk legend Townes Van Zandt had a song called "Talking Thunderbird Blues".
Country Music Legend George Jones has a song called Wild Irish Rose which is about a homeless war veteran passing away with the bottle still in his hand.
ZZ Top released a song called "Thunderbird" on the band's 1975 album, "Fandango!"
Elliott Smith released a song called "Kiwi Maddog 20/20" on his 1994 debut album, "Roman Candle." Also, the unreleased song "Crazy Fucker" contains the line "He's a busted mainline,/But you oughta hear him out./Bleeding fortified wine/ out of the injury that I call my mouth." Elliott also penned a song with his former band, Heatmiser entitled, "See You Later," with the opening lyrics being, "You gotta choke chain,/ Made out of Night Train,/ To keep your memory down."
Scottish band Teenage Fanclub has a b-side called "Mad Dog 20 20"
Kimya Dawson makes a reference to Mad Dog 20/20 in the first line of her alcoholism-themed song "The Beer", from the My Cute Fiend Sweet Princess album: "The beer I had for breakfast was a bottle of Mad Dog/And my 20/20 vision was fifty percent off."
Country singer Eric Church sings about Wild Irish Rose in his song "These Boots." The song contains the line, "and these boots have danced with the devil and nearly lost that battle to Wild Irish Rose..."
"Lightning Bar Blues," written by Hoyt Axton, also performed by Arlo Guthrie.
They Might Be Giants has a song about Thunderbird on their "The Spine" album.
David Allan Coe - Why You Been Gone So Long. Lord there ain’t a thing to do well I guess I’ll go get stoned/Let the past paint pictures on my head/Drink a fifth of Thunderbird and smoke my way back home/Tell me baby why you been gone so long.
The song "True O.G. by Mr. Dalvin and Static contains the line "Niggas wasn't be thinking 'bout drinking no juice and gin, niggas drinkin' the Thunderbird, or Nighttrain, lookin' for the right frame, breakin' like in dice games".
"Sicx - Killing Fields" on If These Walls Could Talk (album). "With the intake of all 5 Micheal's Halloween flicks and a mix of Bird and Kool-Aid."
The Beastie Boys have referenced Thunderbird in two of their songs: "Hold It Now, Hit It!" and "Johnny Ryall."
Thunderbird is also referenced by one of the Pink Ladies in Grease.
In the song "Kiss the Bottle" by the punk band Jawbreaker, they make a reference to Night Train: "Fell from the wagon to the Night Train."
"Rednecktified" by Neal Mccoy contains the line: "Kickin` it up with and ice cold Bud, And some 20/20 wine"
[edit] Trivia
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Ripple was mentioned often as being Fred Sanford's alcoholic beverage of choice on the 1970's TV show Sanford and Son starring Redd Foxx once referring to it as "The national wine of Watts".
The 1950s radio jingle that promoted Thunderbird had the catch phrase "What's the word? Thunderbird!". Ernest Gallo allegedly drove through a poor neighborhood and upon seeing a homeless individual drinking, he called out "What's the word?". The person enthusiastically responded, "Thunderbird!"
[edit] See also
[edit] References
- ^ a b c d e Fortified Wines. bumwine.com (03 March 2003). Retrieved on 2008-02-11.
- ^ Murakami, Kery. "Alcoholics finding way around ban", Seattle Post-Intelligencer, December 7, 1998.
- ^ Canandaigua Wine Co. Agrees To Advertising, Packaging Changes [1]
- ^ E & J Gallo Winery. The Wine Lover's Companion. Epicurious.
- ^ "Report on Cheap Wines", The Medical Times and Gazette, November 5, 1864.
- ^ City could soon widen alcohol impact areas, Seattle Post-Intelligencer, December 7, 2005.
- ^ Seattle's Alcohol Impact Areas: The Extended Central Core AIA, City of Seattle website.
[edit] External links
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