"Three glasses a day, for good health and lively blood"

In the wake of alarming new research about alcohol consumption in Scotland, the Right Rev Bob Gillies, Bishop of Aberdeen and Orkney in the Scottish Episcopal Church has accused the Benedictine Monks in Devon who first brewed Buckfast tonic wine of betraying Christian values. 

The fortified wine which had previously been marketed with the slogan “Three small glasses a day, for good health and lively blood” is 15% proof and a 75cl bottle has approximately the same amount of caffeine as six cans of cola. 

The followers of St Benedict had probably not foreseen the damage that the fortified tonic wine would have on Christian values in faraway Scotland which has over half of the Buckfast market. There the tipple has been the indulgence of many a disillusioned Christian and the empty glass bottle his weapon of choice. Buckfast has been mentioned in 5,000 crime reports by Strathclyde Police in the last three years and has been firmly implanted into “Ned” culture.

Scotland’s love affair with this magic tonic does not seem to be dwindling despite the economic crisis and sales of Buckfast have doubled in the past five years. Currently Scots spend £50,000 a year on the drink while the average alcohol intake for a Scot over the age of 18 is the equivalent of 46 bottles of vodka a year. This figure will certainly set public health alarm bells ringing as a 2008 study concluded that two-thirds of men and more than of half of women are overweight in Scotland. 

It is clear from such pseudonyms as “Wreck the hoose juice”, “Beat the wife” or “Commotion lotion” that Buckfast is having a negative impact on family relations north of the border. The video posting website YouTube is also littered with videos of fresh faced teenagers competing to see who can drink a bottle of “Buckie” in the quickest time (the best so far is 9 seconds). Binge drinking culture among the youth is as much a serious problem in Scotland as it is in England and Wales but perhaps Bishop Gillies laying the blame on 19th Century Benedictine monk’s is missing the point of the matter.