Buckfast Tonic Wine

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bottle
Buckfast in front of the Monastic Produce Shop by Buckfast Abbey

Buckfast Tonic Wine , known colloquially as Buckfast or Buckie , is a caffeinated fortified wine . It is made in Buckfast Abbey , a Benedictine abbey in the English county of Devon . The fortified wine is sold in the United Kingdom and Ireland . It is the subject of controversy in Scotland , where the drink is popular, but also associated with hooliganism and petty crime (the so-called "Ned culture").

history

A Buckfast tanker truck on the A38 in Devon

The production of the fortified wine is based on a recipe that is said to come from the French Benedictine monks who settled at Buckfast Abbey in the 1880s . The basis was Spanish mistela , which was enriched with other ingredients. Since the distribution was taken over by a London wine merchant in 1927, Buckfast Tonic Wine has been produced according to a modified recipe with a milder taste, but still produced on site in the abbey. French red wine is now the basis for Buckfast. In 2011 a new production building was opened in the abbey.

Versions

Buckfast Tonic Wine is offered in different versions in the United Kingdom and the Republic of Ireland . While the UK version is sold in a green 750 ml glass bottle, has an alcohol content of 15% and a caffeine content of 37.5 mg / 100 ml, in Ireland the bottle is brown with an alcohol content of 14.8% and the caffeine content is 55 mg / 100 ml. The composition shows further differences.

The taste of Buckfast was described in an article in the Daily Mail as "a mixture of Dubonnet , Cherry Cola, Ribena [an English soft drink made from cassis ], Benylin [a cough syrup], aniseed , altar wine and Hubba Bubba ".

Controversy in Scotland

In Scotland , where around half of Buckfast production is sold, Buckfast is the preferred drink of the "Neds". "Neds" are young people from the lower classes whose external appearance is characterized by the wearing of sports suits and who are associated with hooliganism , petty crime and general anti-social behavior. In Scottish politics there are fears that in addition to alcoholic beverages in general, the consumption of Buckfast in large quantities in particular encourages such behavior, since the high caffeine content in connection with alcohol can lead to restlessness and aggressiveness. In a study of littering in Scotland, 35% of the litter in a typical housing estate was identified as Buckfast bottles.

Former Scotland Minister Helen Liddell led a campaign against Buckfast and several Scottish politicians supported calls for a sales ban. When the then Secretary of State for Justice, Cathy Jamieson , asked the grocery chain Co-operative in 2005 to remove Buckfast from its Auchinleck branch and Co-operative agreed to sales restrictions, this sparked protests and increased sales of the wine in Scotland.

Buckfast's head of sales responded to the allegations from Scotland, among other things, by pointing out that Buckfast was behaving responsibly by selling the drink at a higher price than competing similar products and by not advertising in Scotland on the instructions of the monks. The Benedictines of Buckfast Abbey point out that their profits from the sale of Buckfast Tonic Wine would be used for social projects. Also abbot David Charlesworth pointed 2013 the allegations. Scottish whiskey as a much stronger alcoholic drink is not to be banned - and so Buckfast is now being “hacked” to calm the conscience, according to the abbot.

Web links

Commons : Buckfast Tonic Wine  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b Tonic Wine ( English ) Buckfast Abbey. Retrieved June 11, 2019.
  2. ↑ a b Jonathan Morris: Buckfast monks reject blame for 'tonic wine crime' ( English ) In: BBC News . December 25, 2013. Accessed January 31, 2016.
  3. ↑ a b c d e Robert Hardman: Don't blame the monks for the drunks: It looks like gravy, tastes like Benylin and has the kick of a chorus line - my brush with Buckfast ( English ) In: Mail Online . January 23, 2010. Accessed January 31, 2016.
  4. ↑ a b Sarah Lyall: For Scots, a Scourge Unleashed by a Bottle ( English ) In: The New York Times . February 3, 2010. Accessed January 31, 2016.
  5. ↑ Neds make it into the dictionary ( English ) In: BBC News . June 9, 2005. Retrieved January 31, 2016.
  6. ↑ Crime link as Buckfast revealed to have as much caffeine as eight colas ( English ) In: The Scotsman . January 17, 2010. Retrieved January 31, 2016.
  7. ↑ Deborah Orr: Buck up, Scotland, and stop blaming other people for all your problems ( English ) In: The Independent . February 19, 2005. Retrieved January 31, 2016.
  8. ↑ Buckfast sales surge after Jamieson appeal for ban ( English ) In: The Scotsman . May 8, 2005. Accessed January 31, 2016.