Fast buck: Sales of Buckie have shot up in the past year. Pic: © STV
Buckfast has been named as the most popular fortified wine in the UK. Figures put it ahead of traditional favourites such as Harveys Bristol Cream and Croft Original.
And some experts say clips of Buckie drinkers on the internet have fuelled sales.
They believe drinkers in upmarket areas try the drink after learning about it on the web.
Off-licence sales of Buckie in the past year have rocketed to £31million, an increase of 40%.
Trade Publication Off Licence News said: "It's a remarkable achievement for a brand with no advertising budget and one which, perhaps, demonstrates there's no such thing as bad publicity."
Recent Strathclyde Police figures show Buckfast was mentioned in more crime reports than any other drink over the past three years. It was a factor in 5,300 cases.
The drink – which has a high caffeine content - is made by monks at Buckfast Abbey in Devon.
Jim Wilson, of the drink's distributors J Chandler & Company told the Daily Record: "Distribution is building wider and wider and, strangely enough, if there's a lot of adverse publicity it sends the product into areas we didn't expect it to."
He claimed this was evidence of the drink shedding is image as the drink of choice for neds and insisted it was now popular with “middle class, middle aged” consumers.
Previous top of the fortified wine pops was Harveys Bristol Cream which fell five per cent to £25million.
