pleegzuster bloedwijn

Holland too had/has it's own weird and wonderful 'medicines' and 'cure alls'.

For instance there's Pleegzuster Bloedwijn which was sold as a energy giving drink for ladies.

Literally translated the name means 'Nurse's blood wine'.

It was especially popular in the 60's and 70's. It was recommended to drink a glass before lunch and dinner and also before going to bed.

All it really contains, is red wine fortified with extra iron and calcium !  But due to the name and  the implication of a medicinal drink, it was very popular!

However in 1998 the Advertising commission banned the suggestion that it was in fact a medicine.


However it's still sold today.........

It has also inspired several artists and students to design a new image for this age old product


2 comments:

Anonymous said...

In the West of Scotland, the low-end social outcast hooch of choice is Buckfast Tonic Wine from the rural tranquillity of Devon. It is known colloquially as 'Buckie' or 'Commotion Lotion'.

With 15% alcohol by volume and more caffeine by volume than Red Bull (plus the empty bottle doubling as an assault weapon for wide-awake drunks), during 2006-2009 the product was mentioned on average three times per day in crime reports. A study of litter around a typical social housing estate found that 35% of the items identified as rubbish was Buckie bottles.

http://goo.gl/1IDqN

Much of the 40% of production not sold into the economically depressed former industrial areas areas of Scotland and Northern Ireland is consumed by genteel spinsters. That last claim is whimsically anecdotal and unsupported by any reputable survey evidence.

I use [pleegzusterbloedwijn] as my login password and as an elite ne'er-do-well I drink imported tonic wine such as Pleegie to bring a touch of class to my otherwise opprobrious conduct and also on the grounds that if I can't ask for it by its full name then probably I have already had enough.

The labeling choice by both Pleegie and Buckie for a yellow background and red for the brand name text is interesting.

Anonymous said...

Interesting that de tuin health shops sell the equivalent of buckfast on open shelves for a cheaper price than a bottle of buckie when measured by the amount 1500 ml compared to 750 ml buckie. Although it is 1.5 percent less ABV 13.5 Bloedwijn can still give a caffeinated kick.Yet these bottles remain on the shelves next to the vit tabs and what nots that you would find in any Holland Barret store in the U.K Dutch people don't seem to consider it to be an alcoholic beverage as such & this make the fact that it's counterpart Buckie is usually kept behind a cage in an off licence and is the stuff of legend. It's lazy to blame the product for the social chaos that can ensue in Scotland but politicians like to politicians lie to blame a bottle of buckie for their own failures to provide decent living standards and social conditions like they seem to be able to do better in Holland better than they can manage here.