Yet Another Cycling Forum

Off Topic => The Pub => Food & Drink => Topic started by: rogerzilla on 12 May, 2008, 09:06:24 am

Title: Buckfast tonic wine, aka The Bucky
Post by: rogerzilla on 12 May, 2008, 09:06:24 am
Who's tried it?  Does anyone drink it regularly except Scottish alcoholics?  What does it taste like?
Title: Re: Buckfast tonic wine, aka The Bucky
Post by: woollypigs on 12 May, 2008, 09:13:49 am
Well I'm going to the holy shine of Buckfast next week as we are going to Buckfastleigh, I will report back if I survive the hills and the drink.
Title: Re: Buckfast tonic wine, aka The Bucky
Post by: MercuryKev on 12 May, 2008, 09:16:25 am
There are pubs in glasgow that sell Buckfast cocktails.  My particular favorite is the Buckaroo: Buckfast and taboo, lovely!  I'll let you into a bit of a secret, the real afficinados drink Sanatogen, it's so much classier.
Title: Re: Buckfast tonic wine, aka The Bucky
Post by: Ian H on 12 May, 2008, 10:39:54 am
As an 11 yr old Catholic I visited the abbey on a school trip, but we weren't offered any of the wine. I believe they changed the recipe a few years ago to make it taste less like medicine.
Title: Re: Buckfast tonic wine, aka The Bucky
Post by: bikenerd on 12 May, 2008, 10:43:58 am
Haven't tried the Buckfast but have tried the Sanatogen (http://www.thedrinkshop.com/products/nlpdetail.php?prodid=1906)
Less foul than you'd think.  A bit like a cross between port and cough mixture.  It's very sweet.
Title: Re: Buckfast tonic wine, aka The Bucky
Post by: tiermat on 12 May, 2008, 10:46:33 am
As others have mentioned, imagine mead crossed with covonia.

Foul, foul stuff, but as they say, taste like S*** but what the hell it gets you there!
Title: Re: Buckfast tonic wine, aka The Bucky
Post by: Wascally Weasel on 12 May, 2008, 10:47:22 am
I have to admit that I have actually drunk the stuff in the distant past.  It's what you do when you're a teenager in Motherwell or Wishaw.

Ms Weasel went to uni in Northern Ireland, they did Bucky promotion nights in the student union bar.
Title: Re: Buckfast tonic wine, aka The Bucky
Post by: richie on 12 May, 2008, 11:01:27 am
My daughter visited Buckfast a couple of days ago on a brownies trip.   And no, she didn't bring me back a bottle  :( . Shame really - i wanted to see what all the fuss is about....
Title: Re: Buckfast tonic wine, aka The Bucky
Post by: Rhys W on 12 May, 2008, 11:22:01 am
There was a cycling club in Scotland a few years ago called the Buckfast Valley Wheelers (I think).

Apparently named because the Bucky lifestyle was enthusiastically embraced by the area's youngsters.
Title: Re: Buckfast tonic wine, aka The Bucky
Post by: Wascally Weasel on 12 May, 2008, 11:26:38 am
My daughter visited Buckfast a couple of days ago on a brownies trip.   And no, she didn't bring me back a bottle  :( . Shame really - i wanted to see what all the fuss is about....

There's no fuss, it's just cheap and quite alcoholic for it's relative value.  It's also utterly hideous and I'm glad to say I haven't had any since I was about 16. 

I suspect that only kids messing about with amateur drinking or alkies would go near the stuff.  Sometimes the former group can become the latter of course.
Title: Re: Buckfast tonic wine, aka The Bucky
Post by: marna on 12 May, 2008, 03:53:11 pm
There's no fuss, it's just cheap and quite alcoholic for it's relative value.  It's also utterly hideous and I'm glad to say I haven't had any since I was about 16. 

It also contains (or used to, at any rate) a fair amount of caffeine, making it the perfect beverage for pulling art-college all-nighters, back in my misspent youth. I haven't tasted the stuff in years. I don't remember it tasting *that* foul.
Title: Re: Buckfast tonic wine, aka The Bucky
Post by: Sergeant Pluck on 12 May, 2008, 04:08:44 pm
It's vile.

The best thing is 50% White Lightning cider / 50% Special Brew, drunk through a straw.
Title: Re: Buckfast tonic wine, aka The Bucky
Post by: Hello, I am Bruce on 12 May, 2008, 05:28:21 pm
I used to take it to all night parties down the local quarry.  Obviously I can't remember what it tasted like though.

Title: Re: Buckfast tonic wine, aka The Bucky
Post by: rogerzilla on 12 May, 2008, 06:27:24 pm
It's vile.

The best thing is 50% White Lightning cider / 50% Special Brew, drunk through a straw.

It used to be Diamond White and Lowenbrau snakebites when I was at university.  Or Purple Nasty, which was a top shelf job plus advocaat and blackcurrant cordial in a pint glass, topped to the brim with lemonade  :sick:
Title: Re: Buckfast tonic wine, aka The Bucky
Post by: Dave on 12 May, 2008, 06:38:38 pm
It's vile.

The best thing is 50% White Lightning cider / 50% Special Brew, drunk through a straw.

It used to be Diamond White and Lowenbrau snakebites when I was at university.  Or Purple Nasty, which was a top shelf job plus advocaat and blackcurrant cordial in a pint glass, topped to the brim with lemonade  :sick:

Advocaat? Advocaat?

A proper purple nasty is half strong lager, half strong cider and a dash of blackcurrant.
Title: Re: Buckfast tonic wine, aka The Bucky
Post by: bobajobrob on 12 May, 2008, 06:54:19 pm
A proper purple nasty is half strong lager, half strong cider and a dash of blackcurrant.

I knew that as snakebite and black.
Title: Re: Buckfast tonic wine, aka The Bucky
Post by: woollypigs on 12 May, 2008, 06:57:18 pm
A proper purple nasty is half strong lager, half strong cider and a dash of blackcurrant.

I knew that as snakebite and black.

And I got asked if I wanted raspberry, strawberry or blackcurrant as the flavor along with what larger and cider I wanted in a pub in Bicester, go figure.
Title: Re: Buckfast tonic wine, aka The Bucky
Post by: border-rider on 12 May, 2008, 06:58:41 pm
A proper purple nasty is half strong lager, half strong cider and a dash of blackcurrant.

I knew that as snakebite and black.

And me.

If you take Roger's Purple Nasty and sub Creme de Menthe for the blackcurrant, that would be a Green Bomber

I expect that a 21st century version would feature Absinthe instead
Title: Re: Buckfast tonic wine, aka The Bucky
Post by: Eccentrica Gallumbits on 12 May, 2008, 07:06:42 pm

A proper purple nasty is half strong lager, half strong cider and a dash of blackcurrant.

I know that as Pink Panther.

An alternative to the Buckie is 20/20 in various flavours including green, red and yellow I think. I've only tasted the green one. I think it had pictures of kiwi fruit on the label.
Title: Re: Buckfast tonic wine, aka The Bucky
Post by: woollypigs on 12 May, 2008, 07:19:51 pm
Kiwi you say, you should see the Kiwi's, Aussies and Zaffers drinking the snakebites in a real "Australian bar".
Title: Re: Buckfast tonic wine, aka The Bucky
Post by: rogerzilla on 12 May, 2008, 08:23:16 pm
My bad - I got the name wrong (must have drunk too many of them).

The hideous concoction described was actually called a Strawberry Milk Shake, and the advocaat was used to make it go milky.  I don't think it ever really caught on, being a bit of a drunk's drink.
Title: Re: Buckfast tonic wine, aka The Bucky
Post by: rogerzilla on 12 May, 2008, 08:24:47 pm
And I got asked if I wanted raspberry, strawberry or blackcurrant as the flavor along with what larger and cider I wanted in a pub in Bicester, go figure.
The Great Stone pub in Northfield, Birmingham actually had snakebite on the tariff (the sort with little white letters on a black pinboard).  When you see that, you know you're not in the kind of gastropub that gets reviewed in the Sunday Times.
Title: Re: Buckfast tonic wine, aka The Bucky
Post by: Bluebottle on 12 May, 2008, 08:27:03 pm
A proper purple nasty is half strong lager, half strong cider and a dash of blackcurrant.

I knew that as snakebite and black.

Another one who knows that as snakebite and black.  The variant is pernod and black, where you had pernod...not unsurprisingly.
Title: Re: Buckfast tonic wine, aka The Bucky
Post by: alecstilleyedye on 12 May, 2008, 08:29:08 pm
A proper purple nasty is half strong lager, half strong cider and a dash of blackcurrant.

I knew that as snakebite and black.

Another one who knows that as snakebite and black.  The variant is pernod and black, where you had pernod...not unsurprisingly.
snakebite, pernod and black aka a red witch
Title: Re: Buckfast tonic wine, aka The Bucky
Post by: Noodley on 12 May, 2008, 08:30:51 pm
...that would be a Green Bomber

aka Green Monster...
Title: Re: Buckfast tonic wine, aka The Bucky
Post by: Dave on 12 May, 2008, 08:33:44 pm
snakebite, pernod and black aka a red witch

Hmm. Now that's bringing back memories of my teenage years. Not sure it was called a red witch in Stoke though.

I'm still right about the purply nasty though :P

(And don't get me started on what a proper oatcake is...)
Title: Re: Buckfast tonic wine, aka The Bucky
Post by: Bluebottle on 12 May, 2008, 08:34:29 pm
Has anyone else come across a big pink one, so to speak: vodka and creamola foam?
Title: Re: Buckfast tonic wine, aka The Bucky
Post by: rogerzilla on 12 May, 2008, 08:38:02 pm
I think we need a thread on regrettable student drinks, but this seems to be it  ;)
Title: Re: Buckfast tonic wine, aka The Bucky
Post by: Dave on 12 May, 2008, 08:45:47 pm
I think we need a thread on regrettable student drinks, but this seems to be it  ;)

Pints of blue curacao and lemonade. That do?
Title: Re: Buckfast tonic wine, aka The Bucky
Post by: border-rider on 12 May, 2008, 08:50:43 pm
WKD Blue & Port = Cheeky Vimto

It doies taste remarkably similar.

Introduced to me by my nephews, whose dad is....MD of Vimto :)
Title: Re: Buckfast tonic wine, aka The Bucky
Post by: Dave on 12 May, 2008, 08:52:00 pm
WKD Blue & Port = Cheeky Vimto

It doies taste remarkably similar.

Introduced to me by my nephews, whose dad is....MD of Vimto :)

Ahhhh. So that's what Radcliffe & Maconie were on about.
Title: Re: Buckfast tonic wine, aka The Bucky
Post by: Bluebottle on 12 May, 2008, 08:52:22 pm
I was only introduced to that at Christmas, although it was called Crazy Vimto.

Didn't stop it from being utterly minging.
Title: Re: Buckfast tonic wine, aka The Bucky
Post by: Séamas M. on 12 May, 2008, 09:08:21 pm
Apparently Lurgan (http://www.freewebs.com/lurganliar/poems.html) is the UK Capital of Buckfast  (http://www.bebo.com/Profile.jsp?MemberId=2030633224&ShowSims=Y) due to its record rate of consumtion per capita.  Oddly enough I've never tasted the stuff.
Title: Re: Buckfast tonic wine, aka The Bucky
Post by: valkyrie on 12 May, 2008, 10:54:03 pm
I was only introduced to that at Christmas, although it was called Crazy Vimto.

Didn't stop it from being utterly minging.


Round here Crazy Vimto is the superior version of Cheeky Vimto: fortified with vodka to give a little more bite... :sick:
Title: Re: Buckfast tonic wine, aka The Bucky
Post by: rogerzilla on 13 May, 2008, 08:34:12 am
There's the traditional stag do "mucky pint" where everyone has a whip round and challenges the barman to put incompatible drinks in a pint glass.  If the end product is black as night with foamy scum that would grace a Chinese river, you're onto something.
Title: Re: Buckfast tonic wine, aka The Bucky
Post by: Wascally Weasel on 13 May, 2008, 08:42:47 am
There's the traditional stag do "mucky pint" where everyone has a whip round and challenges the barman to put incompatible drinks in a pint glass.  If the end product is black as night with foamy scum that would grace a Chinese river, you're onto something.

In those sort of circumstances, I once drank a pint of guiness and baileys  :sick: :sick: :sick:
Title: Re: Buckfast tonic wine, aka The Bucky
Post by: bikenerd on 13 May, 2008, 08:52:46 am
I went to Newcastle-Upon-Tyne University so my regrettable student drink was Exhibition bitter every week in the Union.  :sick:
Title: Re: Buckfast tonic wine, aka The Bucky
Post by: rogerzilla on 13 May, 2008, 08:59:20 am
One of the 50p-a-pint nights at Birmingham featured Harp lager.  A friend of mine was owed £7 by his roommate and agreed to accept payment in the form of 14 pints of said crap lager.  He got as far as the tenth pint then had to be carried home and threw up on the carpet in the night, but under the terms of the contract the debt was considered to be cancelled.
Title: Re: Buckfast tonic wine, aka The Bucky
Post by: Deano on 13 May, 2008, 09:16:23 am
Power shandies: Newcastle Brown and Smirnoff Ice.

I have never dared.
Title: Re: Buckfast tonic wine, aka The Bucky
Post by: Ian H on 13 May, 2008, 09:31:47 am

A proper purple nasty is half strong lager, half strong cider and a dash of blackcurrant.

I know that as Pink Panther.

An alternative to the Buckie is 20/20 in various flavours including green, red and yellow I think. I've only tasted the green one. I think it had pictures of kiwi fruit on the label.

I'm beginning to see the attraction of alcopops.
Title: Re: Buckfast tonic wine, aka The Bucky
Post by: Charlotte on 13 May, 2008, 09:37:42 am
When I was a student, there were pubs who would refuse to serve you a snakebite and black.  It used to be grounds for instant ejection...
Title: Re: Buckfast tonic wine, aka The Bucky
Post by: Dave on 13 May, 2008, 09:40:56 am
When I was a student, there were pubs who would refuse to serve you a snakebite and black.  It used to be grounds for instant ejection...

Whereas, for me, a pub that did serve S&B was well worth frequenting. I seem to recall a strong correlation between the quality of the jukebox and the quantity of S&B served...
Title: Re: Buckfast tonic wine, aka The Bucky
Post by: andrew_s on 13 May, 2008, 01:58:55 pm
There's the traditional stag do "mucky pint" where everyone has a whip round and challenges the barman to put incompatible drinks in a pint glass.  If the end product is black as night with foamy scum that would grace a Chinese river, you're onto something.

In those sort of circumstances, I once drank a pint of guiness and baileys  :sick: :sick: :sick:

If you try cheap red wine and baileys, the baileys can curdle so it goes all lumpy.
We used to call it seal's brains
Title: Re: Buckfast tonic wine, aka The Bucky
Post by: Cunobelin on 13 May, 2008, 07:20:57 pm
SLightly OT, but relvant(ish)

Old students like us used to drink, fall over, sleep......

Now with the advent of "Red Bull". "Ir'n Bru 32" etc, the drinks are all awake and hyper.....

This it is suggested is why there is so much aggression and violence in pubs and clubs these days!


PS - The Irn Bru" ads are still brilliant....

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JhHP3hP_0Pg (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JhHP3hP_0Pg)


Or listen to the lyrics...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=haNhogYCEdM&feature=related (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=haNhogYCEdM&feature=related)


Title: Re: Buckfast tonic wine, aka The Bucky
Post by: border-rider on 13 May, 2008, 07:26:37 pm

If you try cheap red wine and baileys, the baileys can curdle so it goes all lumpy.
We used to call it seal's brains

Baileys, Cointreau and a dash of cream.  Curdles beautifully.  Called an Orgasm.
Title: Re: Buckfast tonic wine, aka The Bucky
Post by: epa611 on 13 May, 2008, 08:32:22 pm
Posh snakebites when I was a lad were Furstenberg + Merrydown. 

Green monsters were vodka, blue curaco, midouri (all doubles) in a pint tumbler topped up with fresh orange and lemonade.  Utterly delicious as they just taste like fruit juice.

 :P
Title: Re: Buckfast tonic wine, aka The Bucky
Post by: juliet on 14 May, 2008, 08:30:49 am
One of the college bars (possibly Hertford?) in Oxford used to serve a thing called a Pan-Galactic Gargleblaster, which featured 5 shots of clear spirits and 1 of blue curacao, topped up to pint level with lemonade.  I got one of those down in one on a pub crawl in my first year, and shortly afterwards was banned from drinking anything else for the rest of the night as no one wanted to deal with the potential upchucking.
Title: Re: Buckfast tonic wine, aka The Bucky
Post by: Bluebottle on 14 May, 2008, 07:19:49 pm
I've just been reviewing our stocks and have uncovered a house warming present I got about 7 years ago - a bottle of Thunderbird - surprisingly unopened.  Do you think it will age well?
Title: Re: Buckfast tonic wine, aka The Bucky
Post by: border-rider on 14 May, 2008, 07:25:51 pm
Do you think it will age well?

I suspect it won't have got much worse :)
Title: Re: Buckfast tonic wine, aka The Bucky
Post by: Bluebottle on 14 May, 2008, 07:30:08 pm
The thing is, this is the same bottle that I gave a friend for a house warming present 3 years before he gave it back to me.

Oddly, we are still friends...
Title: Re: Buckfast tonic wine, aka The Bucky
Post by: rogerzilla on 14 May, 2008, 08:38:35 pm
Thunderbird...I think it's a by-product of the American "defense" industry, or something.
Title: Re: Buckfast tonic wine, aka The Bucky
Post by: Jacomus on 16 May, 2008, 12:12:04 am
Diesel is a drink of choice around these parts.

- Double Vodka shot
- Half pint Strongbow
- Dash of Blackcurrent
- Top off with Stella

 :sick: :sick: :sick: :sick: There are no words to describe the pain that drinking this causes the next day. A binge on Diesel lay me out for 3 days.
Title: Re: Buckfast tonic wine, aka The Bucky
Post by: rogerzilla on 16 May, 2008, 11:49:40 am
Friends who used to drink the strawberry milk shakes claimed three of them were enough to cause acute kidney pain the next day.  Mind you, each one contained a minimum of six units of alcohol, if you were lucky, (the "top shelf job" being a very loose definition depending on which bar you were in).
Title: Re: Buckfast tonic wine, aka The Bucky
Post by: Ian H on 09 June, 2008, 11:18:43 am
Back to the subject.

There was a six axle tanker lorry heading north on the M5 this morning. On the back was the proud logo 'Buckfast Tonic'.
Title: Re: Buckfast tonic wine, aka The Bucky
Post by: hairyhippy on 16 June, 2008, 07:44:33 pm
Thunderbird and circular saws do not mix.
Title: Re: Buckfast tonic wine, aka The Bucky
Post by: PeteB99 on 16 June, 2008, 07:50:00 pm
Has anyone mentioned VP 'British sherry' yet :sick:
Title: Re: Buckfast tonic wine, aka The Bucky
Post by: Ian H on 20 August, 2008, 01:13:05 pm
 Monks' drinks business to develop (http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/devon/7569611.stm)
Title: Re: Buckfast tonic wine, aka The Bucky
Post by: Thor on 18 January, 2010, 09:54:11 am
Causal link between Buckfast and violence? (http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/scotland/8462042.stm)
Title: Re: Buckfast tonic wine, aka The Bucky
Post by: Moloko on 18 January, 2010, 10:13:15 am
Causal link between Buckfast and violence? (http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/scotland/8462042.stm)

Quote
Rather than start from the standpoint that this humble tonic wine was a "bad thing", we simply wanted to find out why it had acquired a reputation, particularly in the central belt, as Scotland's "commotion lotion".

 ;D
Title: Re: Buckfast tonic wine, aka The Bucky
Post by: Wascally Weasel on 18 January, 2010, 12:23:47 pm
I thought the indifference of the distributor was quite unpleasant but not surprising.  I wonder if he would be so complacent if the victims of a Chateau du Bucky glassing started claiming damages from them through the civil courts (if such could be done)?
Title: Re: Buckfast tonic wine, aka The Bucky
Post by: Julian on 18 January, 2010, 02:21:38 pm
I thought the indifference of the distributor was fairly reasonable.  The problem isn't with the product; it's with the little chavsters who drink it until they punch someone. 
Title: Re: Buckfast tonic wine, aka The Bucky
Post by: rogerzilla on 18 January, 2010, 07:12:51 pm
I'm amazed how much caffeine it contains. Maybe it's one for the Audaxers  :)
Title: Re: Buckfast tonic wine, aka The Bucky
Post by: Kathy on 23 January, 2010, 06:05:43 pm
Having heard The News Quiz (http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b006r9yq) last night, I now thoroughly approve of Buckfast Wine.  8)

(If you didn't hear it, *do* listen again. Comedians getting - or pretending to get - caffienatedly drunk on radio has to be one of the best things I've heard for several years).
Title: Re: Buckfast tonic wine, aka The Bucky
Post by: Thor on 23 January, 2010, 07:46:27 pm
+1.  Very amusing. 

I suspect that all this attention, precipitated by a programme critical of the product, will be of net benefit to sales.