Buckfast Tonic Wine
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Buckfast Tonic Wine is a caffeinated alcoholic drink consisting of fortified wine with added caffeine,<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> originally made by monks at Buckfast Abbey in Devon, England. It is now made under a licence granted by the monastery, and distributed by J. Chandler & Company in Great Britain, James E McCabe Ltd in Northern Ireland,<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> and Richmond Marketing Ltd in Ireland. The wine's distributor reported record sales of £43.2 million as of March 2017.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
Despite being marketed as a tonic, Buckfast has become notorious in Scotland for its association with ned culture and "antisocial behaviour."<ref name="health"/>
History
The wine, which is still manufactured using many of the same ingredients, is based on a traditional recipe from France. The Benedictine monks at Buckfast Abbey first made the tonic wine in the 1890s. It was originally sold in small quantities as a medicine using the slogan "Three small glasses a day, for good health and lively blood".<ref name="Buckfast">Template:Cite web</ref>
In 1927, the Abbey lost its licence to sell wine. As a result, the Abbot allowed wine merchants to distribute on behalf of the Abbey. At the same time, the recipe was changed to be less of a patent medicine and more of a medicated wine.<ref name="Buckfast"/>
The wine, which comes in distinct brands depending on the market, has achieved popularity in working class, student, and bohemian communities in the United Kingdom and Ireland. In the Republic of Ireland, Buckfast is packaged in a darker bottle, has a slightly lower alcoholic strength, and lacks the vanillin flavouring present in the British version. Buckfast sold in Northern Ireland, where it has been nicknamed "Lurgan champagne", is the same as that sold in the rest of the UK.<ref name="independentonsunday">Template:Cite news</ref><ref name="belfast_telegraph">Template:Cite news</ref>
Versions
Buckfast contains 15% alcohol in the 750 ml green-bottled UK version, and 14.8% in the brown-bottled Republic of Ireland version, which equates to roughly 11.25 UK units of alcohol.
Both versions of the drink contain phosphate and glycerophosphate, each of these as the sodium and/or potassium salt.
The "brown bottle" Buckfast sold in Ireland has a caffeine content similar to an espresso coffee (60 mg/100 ml) and higher than Red Bull (32 mg/100 ml). The UK-sold "green bottle" Buckfast has a caffeine content higher than black tea but lower than coffee (37,5 mg/100 ml).<ref name="Content">Template:Cite web</ref><ref name="Erowid">Template:Cite web</ref>
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- Buckfast Tonic Wine (green bottle)
Sold in the United Kingdom.
- Fortified wine based aperitif, 15% v/v.
- Sodium glycerophosphate, an emulsifier.
- Dipotassium phosphate, a protein stabiliser
- Disodium phosphate, a stabiliser and emulsifier.
- Caffeine, 0.0375%w/v
- Vanillin
- Buckfast Tonic Wine (brown bottle)
Sold exclusively within the Republic of Ireland.
- Fortified wine, 14.8% alcohol
- Sodium and potassium glycerophosphates – both measured at 0.65% w/v
- Disodium phosphate
- Caffeine – 0.055% w/v
- Sulphite preservatives
Antisocial image
In certain parts of Scotland, Buckfast is associated with drinkers who are prone to anti-social behaviour when drunk, especially those under 18 years old.<ref name="nyt">Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref> The drink has a very high caffeine content, with each 750 ml bottle containing 281 mg of caffeine, the equivalent of eight cans of cola.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> It has been suggested that this may cause it to act as a stimulant, while removing inhibitions, self-control and a feeling of having drunk enough, though research into similar drinks has failed to find clear evidence for the latter effect.<ref name="BensonVerster2014">Template:Cite journal</ref> A diet of four bottles a day has been described in a Scottish court as 'not conducive to a long life'.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
The beverage has entered the popular lexicon with nicknames such as "Wreck the Hoose Juice",<ref name="bbcnames1">Template:Cite news</ref><ref name="grundhauser">Template:Cite web</ref><ref name="beck">Template:Cite web</ref> "Commotion Lotion",<ref name="bbcnames1"/><ref name="grundhauser"/> "Cumbernauld Rocket Fuel",<ref name="grundhauser"/> "Mrs. Brown",<ref name="bbcnames1"/> "Buckie Baracas",<ref name="bbcnames2">Template:Cite news</ref> "Coatbridge Table Wine", "Jakey Juice" ,<ref name="bbcnames2"/> and a bottle of "What the hell are you looking at?"<ref name="bbcnames2"/> It has earned the unofficial slogan, "Buckfast: gets you fucked fast." <ref name="beck"/> The drink's prominence within the "Buckfast/Buckie Triangle" – an area east of Glasgow between Airdrie, Coatbridge and Bellshill – has raised concern.<ref name="beck"/><ref name="bbcnames2"/><ref>Template:Cite news</ref> The glass bottle has been blamed for allegedly contributing to litter and providing drunkards with a weapon.<ref name="grundhauser"/><ref name="bbcnames2"/>
Several Scottish politicians and social activists have singled out Buckfast tonic wine as being particularly responsible for crime, disorder, and general social deprivation in these communities. There have been numerous calls for the drink to be banned (either throughout the country or in certain areas or shops), made more expensive to dissuade people from buying it, or sold in plastic bottles to reduce glassing incidents. Helen Liddell, former Secretary of State for Scotland, called for the wine to be banned.<ref name="Leishman">Template:Cite journal</ref>
In 2005, Scottish Justice Minister Cathy Jamieson suggested that retailers should stop selling the wine. On a subsequent visit to Auchinleck within her constituency, she was greeted by teenagers chanting, "Don't ban Buckie".<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> All of these initiatives have been countered by lawyers acting for Buckfast distributors, J. Chandler & Company, in Andover.<ref name="Leishman" /><ref>Template:Cite web</ref> A further consequence was that Buckfast sales increased substantially in the months following Jamieson's comments.<ref name="SalesSurge">Template:Cite news</ref>
In September 2006, Andy Kerr, the Scottish Executive's Health Minister, described the drink as "an irresponsible drink in its own right" and a contributor to anti-social behaviour. The distributors denied the claims and accused him of showing "bad manners" and a "complete lack of judgement" regarding the drink.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> Kerr met with J. Chandler & Company to discuss ways of lessening Buckfast's impact on west Scotland but the talks broke up without agreement. Three months later, Jack McConnell, First Minister of Scotland, stated that Buckfast had become "a badge of pride amongst those who are involved in antisocial behaviour."<ref name="health">Template:Cite news</ref> In response the distributors accused the Scottish Executive of trying to avoid having to deal with the consequences of failed social policy and the actual individuals involved in antisocial behaviour by blaming it on the drinks industry."<ref name="health"/>
In January 2010, a BBC investigation revealed that Buckfast had been mentioned in 5,638 crime reports in the Strathclyde area of Scotland from 2006 to 2009, equating to an average of three per day. In 2017, Scottish Police reported there had been 6,500 crimes related to the drink in the previous two years.<ref name="telegraph">Template:Cite news</ref> One in 10 of those offences had been violent and 114 times in that period a Buckfast bottle was used as a weapon. A survey at a Scottish young offenders' institution showed that of the 117 people who drank alcohol before committing their crimes, 43 per cent said they had drunk Buckfast. In another study of litter around a typical council estate in Scotland, 35 per cent of the items identified as rubbish were Buckfast bottles.<ref name="nyt"/><ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
In 2016, a sheriff said there was a "very definite association between Buckfast and violence" while sentencing a man for hitting a 15-year-old boy over the head with a bottle at a birthday party.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> In January 2018, a trial at the High Court in Edinburgh heard that a man had consumed lager and a whole bottle of Buckfast before ferociously stabbing a workmate.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
In July 2017, the British trade magazine The Grocer reported that increased sales of Buckfast in southeast England had pushed the drink up to 91 on the UK's top 100 alcoholic brands. The increased sales followed a marketing campaign to improve the drink's image.<ref name="telegraph"/>
In 2017, thousands of empty Buckfast bottles were recovered during a clean-up of the Claddagh Basin in Galway, Ireland.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
Manufacturer's response
The monks of Buckfast Abbey and their distribution partner, J. Chandler & Company, deny that their product is harmful, saying that it is responsibly and legally enjoyed by the great majority of purchasers. They point out that the areas identified with its acute misuse have been economically deprived for decades and Buckfast represents less than one per cent of total alcohol sales in Scotland.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> Abbot of Buckfast Abbey David Charlesworth has said that the tonic wine his monastery produces "is not made to be abused".<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
In February 2013, J. Chandler & Company applied to the Court of Session in Edinburgh to stop Strathclyde Police from marking bottles of Buckfast so they could trace where under-age drinkers bought them. A company spokesman complained, "This is discrimination at the highest level. Buckfast is no more involved in crime than any other brand of alcohol". A former head of the Scottish Police Federation said: "Buckfast, the distributors and the lawyers who act on behalf of the monks refuse, point blank, to take any responsibility for the antisocial behaviour that's caused by the distribution and the consumption of Buckfast. They even refuse to change the glass bottles to plastic bottles despite overwhelming evidence that large areas in play parks and certain areas in Scotland are littered with this green glass".<ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
In February 2014, the case was settled without any judgment being made by the court. Assistant Chief Constable Wayne Mawson of Police Scotland apologised to J. Chandler & Co for asking a shopkeeper to stop selling Buckfast and gave written undertakings not to include the product in any bottle-marking scheme, unless it has "reasonable grounds" for doing so, and "not to request licensed retailers, situated anywhere in Scotland, to cease stocking for sale Buckfast Tonic Wine".<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
In 2016 sales of Buckfast Tonic Wine reached record yearly profits of £8.8 million. The abbey trust, which is a shareholder of the Hampshire-based wine's distributor and seller, J. Chandler, gets a royalty fee for every bottle sold. Although the trust declined to release specific sales figures, it said it "strives to work with J. Chandler and Co to ensure that the tonic wine is marketed and distributed responsibly".<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
Buckfast Day
In 2015, a "National Buckfast Day" was set up by fans to honour the tonic wine.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> The organisers designated the second Saturday of each May National Buckfast Day. The organisers decided to rename the day World Buckfast Day for 2016.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> By its third year, several celebratory events were held on different continents around the world.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
See also
- White Lightning, a former English brand of cider also associated with delinquency
- Ban on caffeinated alcoholic beverages, a list of bans on similar products
- Flavored fortified wines
- Parish ale, a British tradition of beer production by the church
- Vin Mariani, a wine fortified with cocaine endorsed by Pope Leo XIII
References
External links
- Pages with broken file links
- 1880 establishments in England
- Alcopops
- Caffeinated alcoholic drinks
- Cocktails with wine
- Companies based in Devon
- English wine
- Food and drink companies established in 1880
- Fortified wine
- Drink brands originating from patent medicines
- Controversies in Scotland
- Buckfastleigh
- Crime in Scotland