Buckfast

biko

Scanned the topics here and couldn't find anything about this so here goes:

I live in the city centre of the Buckie capital of Ireland - Galway, which is littered with Buckie bottles every bleeding morning. Old Galwegian proverb: "Good puzzle is taking a tourist photo in Galway without a bottle of Buckfast in it"

Did try this stuff myself but it's pretty bad tasting. I hear it gives you "a great buzz"? Hang over rating?

The Sweeper

I'd rather see a taste, price, drinkability and availablity rating. I'm leaving this here for now, but if it degenerates into a liver-hating celebration of how sixteen bottles of buckfast is great for making you throw up till your nose bleeds and you see angels, the thread will be closed.

I for one have never drunk buckfast and couldn't identify it in a line-up if I were offered a lifetime's supply. What is it anyway?

Tis a drink of the gods!!
afair it's a herbal wine made by monks. The drunk effect it gives is akin to being on speed. You have so much energy and you couldn't leave the dance floor if you tried.
Costs around a tenner and you can get most places. Dunnes on Georges St. any offy should have it too.
The taste: Bleurgh! this is a drink you do not drink for pleasure. You drink this for the effect. It's like flat coke that's been left, squashed in a bottle, behind a radiator for a month, with a splash of cough syrup.

Hope this helps. I love the effect to tell you the truth, but the taste is foul.


PS. Strangely, I don't ever remember getting a hangover from Bucky...

LegacyUser

From our friends at Wiki...

Wikipedia.com wrote:

Buckfast Tonic Wine, commonly known as simply Buckfast or Buckie (in Scotland and Northern Ireland), is a tonic wine produced by Buckfast Abbey in South Western England. The wine was first produced in 1890s by the monks at Buckfast Abbey using a recipe brought over from France.

Originally sold as a medicine with the slogan "Three small glasses a day, for good health and lively blood", in 1927 the Abbot signed a deal with wine merchants to sell the wine on a commercial basis.

In recent times, Buckfast has gained an unenviable reputation as the drink of choice for underage drinkers and chronic alcoholics alike. Its high strength (15% alcohol by volume) combined with its low price and sweetness mean that many find Buckfast to be the ideal means by which to become drunk as quickly and cheaply as possible.

This abusive use of Buckfast is particularly prevalent in the poorer districts of Greater Glasgow in Scotland, and in the surrounding deprived communities (in an area known colloquially as The Buckfast Triangle, with the towns of Airdrie, Bellshill, and Coatbridge it its vertices). Here Buckfast is mostly sold in off-licences (retailers licensed to sell alcoholic beverages for consumption off the premises), and groups of youths (commonly identified as neds) can frequently be seen drinking it (at all times of day) in parks and other public places. Nicknames for the wine include 'commotion lotion', 'wreck-the-hoose juice' and 'Mrs Brown' [1].

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 other low-priced alcoholic beverages are also very popular). Helen Liddell, former Secretary of State for Scotland, even called for the wine to be banned. 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"[2]. A further result of Ms Jamieson's comments was that she subsequently received correspondence from lawyers acting on behalf of J Chandler, the Andover-based distributors of Buckfast [3]. In South Lanarkshire (in which much of the Buckfast Triangle lies), the local council refuse to give licences to sell alcohol to shop keepers intending on stocking Buckfast.

Recently it has become commonplace for off-licences in the Buckfast Triangle to require photographic identification from anyone who wishes to buy Buckfast - regardless of age - and for premises to keep a written record of any customer that buys the drink, often on instructions from the police. Many shops also refuse to sell more than two bottles of Buckfast a day to any one customer.

The monks of Buckfast Abbey and their distribution partners strenuously deny that their product is particularly harmful, saying that it is responsibly and legally enjoyed by the great majority of purchasers. They also point out that the areas identified with its acute misuse have been economically deprived for decades, and that Buckfast represents a relatively small proportion of the total alcohol sales there as in other places.


The label on a contemporary bottle of Buckfast reads:

Buckfast TONIC WINE
The name "Tonic Wine" does not imply
health giving or medicinal properties
Made by THE BENEDICTINE MONKS
BUCKFAST ABBEY Devon, England
The added ingredients are:

Vanillin: 0.05% by weight
Potassium Phosphate: 0.20% by weight
Sodium Phosphate: 0.05% by weight
Sodium Glycerophosphate: 0.65% by weight
Caffeine: 375mg/litre
[quote/]

ferdi

http://culchie.net/imap-test.php?getmessage=34

This Pic is off my camera phone, its taken by me off 2 of my mates in the back seat of a car going down to carlow for the night. and look what the drink of choice was!

miss serena

I did never get in to Buckfast, even throughout my college years when all my mates loved it. It's too thick and syrupy. Kinda like cough medicine alright. The taste is wierd as well. This wierd pungent taste that you can't put your finger on, which is a bit unsettling. I'd say stick to Dutchy!

Kolodny

To me it tastes like Ribena mixed with Sherry mixed with Extra Strength Benylin. And it's a bastard to get out of a cream coloured carpet.

dermo88

Tried it once with mates. Its a mad psychotic, hilariously funny drink. We ended up on O'Connell Street pretending to be tramps, doing the Buckfast Roar, which is a sound akin to a crossbreed of Ian Paisley humping a Staffordshire Bull Terrier.

danniemcq

ferdi wrote:

http://culchie.net/imap-test.php?getmessage=34

This Pic is off my camera phone, its taken by me off 2 of my mates in the back seat of a car going down to carlow for the night. and look what the drink of choice was!

haha if you guys pulled the world is f*cked!

on topic all my mates seem to drink it and it appears to be rocket fuel. it was even the casue of Sinus gettin locked out of the house twice in a night and then gettin stuck in a window. me i think it's a horrible sticky thick ribena and much prefer my cans.

biko

danniemcq wrote:

on topic all my mates seem to drink it

There's Galway for ye

An old girlfriend, already a bundle of energy, used to drink this and be bouncing between the walls. It seems it's a great drink for the old s-e-x. Like red wine with a healthy dose of Red Bull.

Sarky

It's pleasent enough in small doses. Sweet, sticky and heavy.

You'd want to be nuts to drink it in any great quantities. Not the good kind of nuts, either.

WhiteWashMan

some of my lesser regarded friends in university used to drink buckfast of an evening.
usually swiging from the neck strolling towards the bar.

never got it myself, but then again, i was too busy humiliating myself with tequila.

these days i tend to drink on taste and appreciation, rather than a need to get revoltingly obnoxiously drunk as cheap and as quick as possible.

po0k

Sarky wrote:

It's pleasent enough in small doses. Sweet, sticky and heavy.

You'd want to be nuts to drink it in any great quantities. Not the good kind of nuts, either.

2 bottles in 30-35minutes. Last time I drank it in any quantifiable volume.

Was hammered about an hour later, trying to stoke the fire by lying on the earthy ground and blowing into the base. I was warm but I was bored and out of cigarettes so I went home. Puked. Stumbled in the back door, gave my mother a sheepish glance and fell into bed. Must've puked again during the night cos when I woke up my pillow, the sheet on the bed and my French-English dictionary bore the mark. Spent saturday lying against a radiator sipping tea, wrapped in a duvet and watching shíte on the telly. That was the highpoint, even with the headache and upset stomach. The mother never said a word.

...because she was biding her time until I had developed a false sense of security.
Sunday dinner was not fun.
It was immediately after that that I switched to beer, cider, wine and spirits.

po0k

Soz Majd, didn't read the thread.

Buckie has a bit of mythos and culture around it, but it really is a foul drink.

The Sweeper

There's a fine line between what I am and am not looking for on this thread. Your post stays Syxpack, because you've recounted a story that I believe no right-minded person would want to emulate, except through a desire to indulge in a masochistic weekend of illness.

If you'd started with "It was so funny, I..." it'd be gone.

garthv

I have to say I enjoy drinking Buckfast. It is more of an aquired taste kind of like Guinness. Gets you drunk but not slurry drunk and I usually have a bottle before I head out, makes the night that much better!

redmosquito

I would generally have at least one bottle each weekend, i really like it although sometimes the first few swigs can be rotten. I can understand how people wouldnt like it, its a very acquired taste.

I am one of the people who is vary fussy about what bottle number I drink, my favourite would have to be 6,7 or 8!

biko

redmosquito wrote:

I am one of the people who is vary fussy about what bottle number I drink, my favourite would have to be 6,7 or 8!

Yeah what's up with that? I heard people going on about bottle numbers but never got a good explanation, just things like "I like number 5 heh heh"...

The_Conductor

biko wrote:

Yeah what's up with that? I heard people going on about bottle numbers but never got a good explanation, just things like "I like number 5 heh heh"...

I actually feel quite ill that I know the answer to this one.....
The number represents the viscosity of the bottle- i.e. a number one is very fluid- but a higher number e.g. a 6 or 7 would be more syruppy......

I feel physically ill whenever anyone mentions Buckfast......

There was a campaign on in Galway to ban the glass bottles- as the vast number of glass bottles getting smashed around the place were all Buckfast bottles.....

Explosive_Cornflake

I used to drink that stuff, and I loved it. I've had to ban myself from drinking it over something I did one night 2 years ago, that I'm still hearing about. Sends you absolutely mental. Never really got a hangover from it, but 1 bottle was enough for me!

Tar.Aldarion

I mix it with a dash of coke sometimes,truely lovely!

steveland?

Kolodny wrote:

To me it tastes like Ribena mixed with Sherry mixed with Extra Strength Benylin. And it's a bastard to get out of a cream coloured carpet.

My take on it was that it tasted like Ribena with a vomit mixer...

Evil evil stuff... drank it once, got sick a lot... never again...

fatherdougalmag

A 'suitable' substitute is Sanatogen.

liamk

the first time i drank it was in a plastic cup and i couldn't even take the equivilant of a shot before i had to stop due to the vile taste but i kept an open mind and drank it out of the bottle the next time and hence didn't smell it as you would with a glass and quite enjoyed it...
now after a solid summer of the crazy juice i would have to say its positivly lovely further testiment to the fact it is certantly an aquired taste. one that every student should aquire however it does have a time and place and any one who aquires the taste will quickly find this out i'm only glad it was not to my peril as so many others have been unfortunatly been forced to realise.
until the drunken experience has been sampled lightly its not advisable to go all out on the stuff

danniemcq wrote:

haha if you guys pulled the world is f*cked!

i believe i was in the front of that car drinking buckfast with ferdi and i managed to pull no bother god help us all!!

bounty_hunter

It's lovely with Red Bull. Which I discovered by accident.

Nala

Is it true that if you drink Buckfast with vodka, after a couple of years it will kill you?

biko

Nala wrote:

Is it true that if you drink Buckfast with vodka, after a couple of years it will kill you?

Absurd, where have you heard this? It's not a poison.

Steve_o

I Drink unhealthy amounts of Buckfast while both practising with my band or playing on stage....dunno what it is about it but it goes well with music!!!

finlma

I used drink it in my student days, not so much any more but the occasional bottle for old times sake. It certainly is an acquired taste.

Also, the number on the bottle means nothing and anyone that tells you otherwise is lying. I have that information directly from the horse's (or monk's) mouth. When I was living in England we drove to see the Eden Project in Plymouth and stopped off in the Buckfast Abbey in Devon on the way to pay hommage. We got talking to one of the monks and the numbers on the bottles are nothing more than stock numbers. Its just one of those urban legends.

BossArky

Buckfast eh? A bottle a night for everyone in the group on a night out back in Uni days and head to the pub for some energy filled rushing around talking to everyone and general mayhem on the dance floor. A second bottle was usually stashed in the ditch outside for the trip home or to someones house / club afterwards. Initial taste is pretty manky. After a while it takes ok, better than Guinness anyway. Great student drink, but not the kind of stuff a working person would be drinking at home prior to a Thursday night out unless you are handing in your notice the next day. A friend of mine used to swear by no.5's, but as has been already mentioned above that seems to have been mere fantasy talk.

danniemcq

bounty_hunter wrote:

It's lovely with Red Bull. Which I discovered by accident.

thats heart failure waitin to happen!

bounty_hunter

danniemcq wrote:

thats heart failure waitin to happen!

Yeah, it certainly feels like it.

Miguel_Sanchez

BossArky wrote:

After a while it takes ok, better than Guinness anyway.

HEDON!!!!!!

You take that back.

amp

yeah bucky is only a uni drink!i only drink it coz i cant really afford much else!although id never have more than one bottle on a night out!

biko

smccarrick wrote:

The number represents the viscosity of the bottle- i.e. a number one is very fluid- but a higher number e.g. a 6 or 7 would be more syruppy......

Ha there we have the makings of a Buckietasting night!
"Hmmm, yes - definetly a number 8 hmmm"

melekalikimaka

its evil, it destroys relationships...(awoke lastweekend after it and my life is ruined...well a little bit)

The Free Man

melekalikimaka wrote:

its evil, it destroys relationships...(awoke lastweekend after it and my life is ruined...well a little bit)

ha, the last time i drank buckfast it ruined a relationship for me too.

strangely, reading these posts has given me a hankering to buy some on the weekend!

melekalikimaka

my g/f has never had it, shes a light weight, im going to her college class party on thursday, getting her a bottle before hand...moowhohaha

merlinsmerryman

Wonder what will happen afterwards?:D

Sangre

You can spot the buggers a mile a way in college with their buckfast.
Easier to avoid that way.

melekalikimaka

merlinsmerryman wrote:

Wonder what will happen afterwards?:D

she'll be getting a free taxi to her house and dumped at her front door with a fake marraige cert stuffed down her bra for mommy and daddy to read, if i can only remember her cousins name...

buckfast is the official drink of my kayaking club!:D

The Sweeper

Buckfast. Three pages. The shame.

The_Conductor

I agree....
I seriously do not *get* what the attraction for people is......
I do note that it seems to be a bit of a Galway phenomenon for some reason?

I'm off to make me a nice hot whiskey with a double helping of cloves.....

melekalikimaka

hand over my heart, i don't think i've ever blacked out for a whole night, not gotten sick, walked half a mile home alone, and woke up without dying ever... until buckfast. tis evil but so is sex before marraige

Chief

Ah Buckfast, quality stuff! But up here in the North (Donegal) we get two distinct varietys, you've got Irish Buckfast (brown bottle, thicker, sweeter and yummier!, 70cl and bottled by Grants of Ireland in Dublin) and Brit Buckfast (green bottle a little more potent 15% as opposed to 14.8%, thinner and a bit more in it (75cl) & bottled by J. Chandler & Co in Andover, England) which is not nearly as nice. Brit Buckfast is nice but not nearly as yummy as our own. Odd that they're so distinctly different....:)

merlinsmerryman

melekalikimaka wrote:

...not gotten sick, walked half a mile home alone, and woke up without dying ever... until buckfast. tis evil but so is sex before marraige

LOL:D

Dont be at yourself

I can't drink the stuff at all anymore, I blew a buckie fuse I guess.

The first time I drank it I went through two bottles and woke up the next day not remembering a single thing, and having to apologise profusely to the girlfriend for stuff I couldn't remember.

It is definitely not a nice tasting drink, it's reason-to-be seems simply to let hobos and students get absolutely hammered for next to nothing.

liamk

in fairness its not that cheap two bottles is 20squid which is a decent ammount if you were on a budget surely the likes of glens vodka and druids are the cheapest things goin these days? buckfast is something you actually have to like to buy it if your a student

tolosenc

NekkidBibleMan wrote:

it's reason-to-be seems simply to let hobos and students get absolutely hammered for next to nothing.

and what a reason to be!;) LOL! I' only seven...ehmm...eighteen, and it's what all my mates drink. Only had it the once,it's a bit of craic. Tastes suprisingly like Calpol. A good buzz is to be had, and with a bit of responsible drinking no bad hangover. It tastes fairly sweet, and is nice and thick and syrupy, slides down the throat like. And at a tenner for 70cl, you can't go wrong, can you?