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Concern over monks' tonic wine

Steven Morris

London: Invented by Benedictine monks in Devon, south-west England, it was originally feted for its medicinal properties. But such is the concern about Buckfast tonic wine and its popularity with binge drinkers that a United Kingdome Minister was meeting the drink's distributors to discuss the social problems it is being blamed for.

Scottish Health Minister Andy Kerr was holding talks with representatives of the company which distributes the wine on behalf of the Roman Catholic monks of Buckfast Abbey. He will try to find out why the drink, which he has described as "seriously bad," is such a favourite, especially with young people in some deprived areas of Scotland.

Distributors J Chandler & Co reject criticism of the drink, saying politicians should attack the root of problem drinking rather than one product. It insists it does not market the drink to young people with promotions such as two-for-one offers or coupons. For their part, the monks prefer not to comment.

The recipe for the tonic wine is attributed to French monks who settled at the abbey in the 1880s. By the 1920s some 1,400 bottles were sold annually but in 1927 a London wine merchant took over the marketing and persuaded the monks to change it from a rather severe medicinal drink to, in the words of the monks, a "smoother, more mature medicated wine." Based on red wine, the modern incarnation is strong, sweet, sticky and cheap.

It has become a favourite with young people in Scotland, who celebrate it with nicknames such as Commotion Lotion and Wreck the Hoose Juice. Its supposed prevalence in some neighbourhoods east of Glasgow has led the area to be branded the Buckfast Triangle.

One point Mr. Kerr was raising was whether the drink could be sold in plastic bottles, in response to complaints that streets are strewn with broken glass after a Friday or Saturday night.

- Guardian Newspapers Limited 2006

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Concern over monks' tonic wine

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