Buckfast Tonic Wine
Buckfast Tonic Wine is a caffeinated alcoholic drink consisting of fortified wine with added caffeine, originally made by monks at Buckfast Abbey in Devon, England. It is now made under a licence granted by the monastery, and distributed by J. Chandler & Company in Great Britain, James E McCabe Ltd in Northern Ireland, and Richmond Marketing Ltd in Ireland. It is based on a traditional recipe from France. The wine's distributor reported record sales of £43.2 million as of March 2017.
A bottle of Buckfast Tonic Wine, bought from the Buckfast Abbey shop | |
| Type | Fortified wine with caffeine |
|---|---|
| Manufacturer | Buckfast Abbey |
| Distributor | J. Chandler & Company (Great Britain) James E McCabe Ltd (Northern Ireland) Richmond Marketing (Republic of Ireland) |
| Region of origin | Devon |
| Introduced | 1880 |
| Alcohol by volume | 15.0% (UK) 14.8% (Ireland) |
| Ingredients | fortified wine, caffeine |
| Variants | Green Bottled (UK) Brown Bottled (Ireland) |
| Related products | Mistella |
| Website | https://www.buckfast.org.uk/tonic-wine |
Despite being marketed as a tonic, Buckfast has become notorious in some parts of Scotland and Northern Ireland for its association with ned culture and antisocial behaviour. High retail sales are recorded in Lurgan, as well as throughout the Central Lowlands including Glasgow and the surrounding areas of East Kilbride, Hamilton, Blantyre, South Lanarkshire, Cambuslang, Airdrie and Coatbridge.