Buckfast tonic wine, aka The Bucky

[rogerzilla]

Who's tried it?  Does anyone drink it regularly except Scottish alcoholics?  What does it taste like?

[woollypigs]

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.

[MercuryKev]

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.

[Ian H]

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.

[bikenerd]

Haven't tried the Buckfast but have tried the Sanatogen
Less foul than you'd think.  A bit like a cross between port and cough mixture.  It's very sweet.

[tiermat]

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!

[Wascally Weasel]

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.

[richie]

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....

[Rhys W]

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.

[Wascally Weasel]

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.

[marna]

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.

[Sergeant Pluck]

It's vile.

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

[Hello, I am Bruce]

I used to take it to all night parties down the local quarry.  Obviously I can't remember what it tasted like though.

[rogerzilla]

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 

[Dave]

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 

Advocaat? Advocaat?

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

[bobajobrob]

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

I knew that as snakebite and black.

[woollypigs]

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.

[border-rider]

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

[Eccentrica Gallumbits]

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.

[woollypigs]

Kiwi you say, you should see the Kiwi's, Aussies and Zaffers drinking the snakebites in a real "Australian bar".

[rogerzilla]

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.

[rogerzilla]

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.

[Bluebottle]

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.

[alecstilleyedye]

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

[Noodley]

...that would be a Green Bomber

aka Green Monster...