Culture - Buckfast: thanks but no thanks/How could you not like Buckfast?

[AaronMcmahon]

Ok i was just wondering who drinks it...

Its real popular in Scotland but i dunno about anywhere else in the world, post here if you drink it or have tried it and what do you think.

[freakybass]

When I was in Ireland (I'm French), it was really popular for the HARD drinker, I mean people who drink a lot. I notice that more the boys than the girls like it. A popular anthem is "Buckfast, let's you fuck fast!!!"
I dislike the taste too sweety for me, and I don't feel a strong speedy effect.
Anyway I don't like too much the energy drink and thing like that.

In France, I think it's impossible to find it, and it's not popular at all...

[Nature Boy]

I'm Irish and yes, Buckfast is quite popular here. Its marketing gimmick is that it's tonic wine when really people over here just use it for binge drinking. The taste is very sweet and syrupy. I've gotten pissed on the stuff a good few times and its a nice in-between in strength between beers and spirits. It's pretty annoying when smoking joints though. It leaves the lips sticky and purple which leaves a stain on the joint's roach. Not fun if you're passing around a few spliffs.

[zippy]

im from scotland and drink it regularly....


it varys from bottle number to bottle number....

higher numbers are thicker(syrupy) and more bitter...

lower numbers are sweeter and thinner

[Sky Walker]

Yes, I used to drink a bottle of buckfast every week before goin out, brilliantly terible stuff.

Apparently the buckfast bottle is one of the most commonly used weapons that the scots happily twat eachother over the head with when out and about at the weekend. Buckfast and N.E.Ds = Busted heads.

[zippy]

Originally Posted by Lukey

Yes, I used to drink a bottle of buckfast every week before goin out, brilliantly terible stuff.

Apparently the buckfast bottle is one of the most commonly used weapons that the scots happily twat eachother over the head with when out and about at the weekend. Buckfast and N.E.Ds = Busted heads.

yea there might be some truth in that...what happened when my mate Gary fell into a bucky bottle :P

[Mammon]

SWIM had a bottle of Buckfast the other day and thought it was pretty rough. Don't get him wrong, SWIM isn't a wine snob and will drink anything that's alcoholic, but the Buckie really didn't do it for him.

He thinks it's the caffine in it. SWIM hates energy drinks.

It's supposed to be bigger with the Scots and the Irish.

So, does anyone really like this stuff? What's so good about it?

[podge]

Haha. Ah the horrendous memories from Buckfast. It doesnt take a wine snob to hate bucky i can guarantee. Swim had a shocking night years ago out in the fields with friends when he drank a bottle of it and mixed this with different alcohol, he couldnt sleep cause of the caffeine (which he only realized the next day after inspecting the bottle closer ) so he had to ride out the sickening drunkeness straight into a hangover.... no sleep recovery time in between. haha. Needless to say he learned his lesson.

A couple of swims friends seem to like it, but at least they tend to pass it around instead of having a full bottle to themselves. Too much caffeine, its recommended to have a glass in the morning and thats it.

[Nature Boy]

It's vile stuff. Sugary, sickly sweet and it leaves a stain on the teeth, tongue and lips. They claim it as some sort of tonic drink with supposedly healthy properties when realistically it's nothing more than an extra-strength cheap wine with loads of caffeine and sweeteners added to give it an extra kick. Inexpensive rocket fuel basically.

[Lunar Loops]

Originally Posted by Nature Boy

Inexpensive rocket fuel basically.

Not really that inexpensive either. Think it's much more popular in Scotland than Ireland.

[calmurphy17]

indeed it is! In Scotland, Buckfast is an institution up here, teaching you you how to buy it whilst underage and how to get pissed up on it is part of the national curriculum for all 7-12 year olds....Seriously though it is a huge part of youth culture up here. On the bottom part of a full bottle (not sure about the half bottles) there is always a 2 digit number cast into the glass that ranges from ,about, if iswim remember correctly 15 to 30 and the legend amongst drinkers is that you can tell the viscosity or syrupyness of the liquid in that particular bottle, swim cant remember if hes got it the right way round but the higher the number the thicker the drink is. everyone has a favourite number or preference so you can usually see them rooting through all bottles on a shelf till they find the one they like!!Theres usually also at least 1 national campaign to ban it running at any 1 time.and also the police have started rules in a lot of places so that you are only allowed to buy one bottle from a shop and other similar schemes. Sorry for the ramble, hope this info is useful to someone.

[Mammon]

It's the staying awake bit that SWIM hates: you don't sleep-off the hangover, you sweat through it.

The funniest thing, though, was to see some of his mates who were really excited when they first got it because they'd heard it was, "what you need" and has this cult appeal in Scotland. What kind of freak decided Buckfast was what anyone could possibly "need", SWIM doesn't know.

In the morning, after chucking their guts out, SWIM thinks they decided that Buckie wasn't what they needed.

The fact you Scottish guys like it makes me think of Garth Marenghi's Darkplace:

"For the first time ever I saw the Scotch in their natural habitat, and it weren’t pretty. I’d seen them huddling in stations before, being loud but… this time I was surrounded. Everywhere I went it felt like they were watching me; fish-white flesh puckered by the Highland breeze; tight eyes peering out for fresh meat; screechy, booze-soaked voices hollering out for a taxi to take ‘em halfway up the road to the next all-night watering hole. A shatter of glass; a round of applause; a sixteen-year-old mother of three vomiting in an open sewer, bairns looking on, chewing on potato cakes. I ain’t never going back… not never."

[davestate]

Big thing in Northern Ireland, particularly with those just looking to get wrecked. Hell they sell it in fecking Magaluf just for the tourists!

Hobo Vs Buckie
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SNv8hjLHyx8

It's more of a culture thing

[tinytom]

it is a culture thing for us sharing a bottle when low/ off sales is not open yet.

its the only booze swim drinks and more for the social talk i get with it. not to mention the caffiene in it is great for keeping swim going long into sunday afternoon.

[Orchid_Suspiria]

Can Buckfast be found at all in the United States?Could it be ordered?Swim just wants a bottle as sort of a collectors item.

[Ganja2k8]

BuckFast is by far the best alcoholic drink in the world. The only thing swim dont like about it is the neck of the bottle tastes like shit and the toe nails is much thicker than most of the bottle but its still drinkable and gets you pissed quickly so its good.

The numbers at the bottom of the bottle start at 1 and go to an unknown number (i think its 45 not sure though) 1 tastes the best with the higher the number the more syrupy it is and the more strong the taste is. Most people prefer it cold and low number although some people will drink it of the shelf at any number. The rumor is that a number one is the first poured out the wine barrel which is why it tastes the best. No one really knows though.

[kakakaka]

Sorry to disprove a legend but......... The number is nothing more than a mold number used in the manufacturing of the bottles, it has nothing to do with what goes inside the bottle.

Most bottles have one, check for example a bottle of vodka next time your in a shop and I'm sure some where on it there will be a mold number also.

[helikophis]

Nobody is an American living in Dublin who has recently been introduced to Buckfast, and loves it. She generally prefers sweet and herbal alcohols, e.g. cream sherry, tawny port, ice wine, New York wines, Chartreuse, honey liqueurs, (good) absinthe, etc. She is absolutely not a binge drinker, and does not enjoy being drunk, but does enjoy a few alcoholic drinks spaced throughout the day.

She really enjoys the taste of Buckfast, although wishes it were a bit more medicinal. She also appreciates the fact that buying it helps support Benedictine monks, who are really great.

It is strongly caffeinated (55mg/m in Ireland), and nobody has recently been drinking it at half-strength or slightly less (that is, between 1:2 and 1:3 Buckfast:water), as her morning beverage, in place of coffee or tea. She does wonder about the other ingredients. The taste would suggest something more than wine, sweeteners, emulsifiers, and caffeine; some kind of herb(s)?

The caffeine also has a couple of drawbacks: one is that she can't really drink Buckfast in the evening, as caffeine after about 3pm has a tendency to interfere with her sleep. But that's fine: there are other drinks for evening sippage. It also seems to be a bit more addictive than other alcoholic beverages, probably because of the caffeine. After a few days of using it in the mornings nobody found herself craving it on waking up as she might crave a morning coffee.

Of course, it's not for everyone, but nobody loves it:

Buckfast for breakfast; it can't be beat!

[Ganja2k8]

Are you insane?

Joking aside in Scotland everyone drinks this stuff its like a national pass time. People in other countries how ever mostly seem to hate this stuff, why???

Its cheap

Its strong

Its sweet

What more is needed???

Some one please explain, its very hard for me to understand this seen as i see people fuck out their face on this stuff daily.

[podge]

A select handful of swims friends enjoy buckfast too, not swim though. Had a bad experience mixing it with other drinks in the past and have avoided it ever since .... swim ended getting bad drunk (feeling like shit not doing anything particularly stupid) and couldnt sleep it off with all the caffeine in it so just had to lie there for hours feeling disgusting drunk and sweating in bed..... never again. Also swim doesnt like sweet alcohol drinks.

[Ganja2k8]

Originally Posted by podge

A select handful of swims friends enjoy buckfast too, not swim though. Had a bad experience mixing it with other drinks in the past and have avoided it ever since .... swim ended getting bad drunk (feeling like shit not doing anything particularly stupid) and couldnt sleep it off with all the caffeine in it so just had to lie there for hours feeling disgusting drunk and sweating in bed..... never again. Also swim doesnt like sweet alcohol drinks.

Just out of curiousity do your freinds pour into a glass? or drink out the bottle. Swim has NEVER seen anyone drink buckfast from a glass.

[podge]

Originally Posted by Ganja2k8

Just out of curiousity do your freinds pour into a glass? or drink out the bottle. Swim has NEVER seen anyone drink buckfast from a glass.

Swim has also never seen buckfast drank from a glass, bottle chugged all the way.

[sweettea]

swiTea has never had Buckfast, but the "it's sweet" would probably put her off. Egads, a foaf from Poland really wanted swiTea to like ginger wine, if Buckfast is sweet like that, then probably not on the like list for swiTea.

[Nature Boy]

SWIM isn't really a big fan of it. Here in Ireland, it's not particularly cheap and 15% by volume isn't exactly that strong when compared to liquors and spirits. The taste is more sickly sweet than just sweet and the stuff stains your teeth like a motherfucker. Maybe a good option is you want to chase an energetic, filthy drunken session but otherwise, keep well away.

[FlashGear]

SWIM Loves Buckfast. Very sweet.

It's really not a cheap strong drink, price ranging from 6-8 GBP's in SWIMS area.

SWIM Cant put anything drink wise to compare it, It is so unique...