Tuesday, 20 May 2014

Buckfast goes craft

Well, not exactly, but it is to be made available in the currently fashionable canned format. A 250 ml can of the 15% ABV tonic wine will retail for approximately £2.90.

The distributors’ spokesman said this was promoting responsible drinking by making it available in a smaller package but, given that the bottles are resealable while the cans aren’t, you can’t help thinking he’s being a little disingenuous. Knocking back a single can, containing 3.75 alcohol units, will give the ideal boost to the start of a ned’s big night out.

It’s interesting to note, though, that at that price it works out at 77p per unit, well above any suggested minimum price. Buckie may be many things, but dirt cheap it isn’t. There’s more alcohol in a 440 ml can of Tennent’s Super which you would easily be able to get for at least a quid less.

15 comments:

  1. But will we finally be able to get it in England? It's as rare as hens teeth in the country of it's origin. A national disgrace.

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  2. You have to go to Buckfast Abbey itself. Maybe you can get it in the kind of dodgy corner shops I don't tend to frequent.

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  3. Oh come on Mudge, we all know you have a bargain booze loyalty card and they send you Frosty Jacks vouchers by way on knowing you neck it by the gallon.

    Bring wreck the hoose juice to England!

    http://www.vice.com/en_uk/read/hanging-out-with-vomiting-scots-and-booze-pedaling-monks

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  4. How does a smaller container encourage responsible drinking? Do they not realise it is not beyond human ingenuity to open a second tin?

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  5. Tennents Super isn't rammed full of caffeine though.

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  6. Eye Adrian, doon here we have to neck craft coffee porter on cask at beardy festivals in order to get off our nut and start fights. 'aboot time we got the bucky!

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  7. A pub in Edinburgh used to sell Buckfast 'cocktails' - a measure of Buckie in a Bacardi Breezer.

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  8. No doubt some entrepreneurial Scot has invented the Buckie and Red Bull cocktail. Really gives you wings!

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  9. "There’s more alcohol in a 440 ml can of Tennent’s Super which you would easily be able to get for at least a quid less."

    Y'know, it's sensible, down-to-earth advice like this that keeps me reading this blog...

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  10. Actually you can buy it in my local corner shop, spotted it a few weeks back and idly thought of trying it but as it was 7am didn't buy it. It is stocked apparently due to the older folks who do use it as a tonic.

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  11. could bucky save the union?

    http://eveningharold.com/2014/02/13/scots-cant-leave-uk-and-keep-buckfast-tonic-wine-says-chancellor/

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  12. You still see "tonic wines" like Sanatogen and Wincarnis in a dusty corner of the supermarket but I doubt whether they have quite the same recipe as Buckfast.

    Do you remember how much it was?

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  13. Fraid not.

    Has anyone here actually tried it though?

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  14. I have - see here. But no doubt Cookie would say "Mudgie will neck owt".

    It was, if anything, even worse than I expected, but I didn't drink enough at once to see if I got a caffeine buzz.

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  15. Sounds rather unpleasant to drink, I think I can curb my curiosity!

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