English Abbey’s Caffeinated Wine Gains Popularity and Scrutiny

Jun 4, 2015

(NYTimes) - Sticky, sweet and flavored like spiced wine, with a hint of violet and a jolt of caffeine, the alcoholic drink produced here for the last century by Benedictine monks is the heart of a thriving enterprise.

Buckfast Abbey, where the tonic wine is blended, employs scores of people, donates money to worthy causes and has undergone a huge renovation.

Locals even have a mischievous nickname for their well-financed monastic community: Fastbuck Abbey.

But now the popularity of the drink — especially hundreds of miles north in Scotland, where its sweetness and a high caffeine content have made it a favorite in recent years of young drinkers — has put the abbey and the surrounding area into the midst of a debate over who bears responsibility for alcohol abuse.

Concerned about reports that such drinks create “wide-awake drunks” who are linked to a variety of crimes, including drunken driving and sexual assaults, the Scottish Parliament is considering legislation that could ban Buckfast — often known as Buckie — unless its recipe is changed.

 



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