If you ask anyone there about Buckfast's Tonic Wine, however, you will get muted responses. Employees at the Abbey are not allowed to talk to journalists about the wine. Few of the local Devonians that VICE reporter John Beck asked about the wine in 2013 knew what it was. This is because most Buckfast Tonic Wine is sold not in touristy, seaside towns like Devon, but in places like Coatbridge, Scotland.

The "Buckfast Triangle" — the area between the cities of Airdrie, Coatbridge and Bellshill — is far from the idyllic setting of Buckfast Abbey. These are gritty Scottish working class towns where people drink heavily to forget their problems. And Buckfast's popularity there becomes easier to understand when you realize that it is an insane drink.