Most traditional alcoholic drinks - beer, wine, spirits- (and smoking!) are an acquired taste and not initially pleasant to drink for kids growing up. If they persevere with acquiring the taste it is often because it is perceived as a badge of adulthood to be seen to do so. Alcopops were a wheeze to get around that, tasting much like fizzy drinks with a kick. They were designed to increase the uptake of alcohol amongst people who otherwise wouldn't drink.

I have no problem with banning or taxing the hell out of them. They seem to have gone out of fashion perhaps because of an association with under age alcohol abuse - which reversed the psychology of drinking being a manly or adult thing to do. Mind you I would tax sugary drinks full stop!

Index of Frank's Diaries