THE HISTORY OF THE SNAKEBITE

The ingridients seemed innocuous enough: a pint glass preferably given a spit 'n' polish by the barman to remove the crimson lipstick of whoever had it before. The ingridients a dash of blackcurrant, half a pint of lager (beer) and finally half a pint of cider (the sweeter the better). Taken out of context, this might sounds like a typical order by a family out for sunday lunch. Mixed together in a single pint glass and downed in thirst, teenage gulps, however snakebite and black was a lethal speedball that could fuel from bad dancing to bed-wetting...

For a short glorious period in the 1980s, in the evenings the gutters from a provincial Britain raw purple vomit. Snakebite and black was everywhere. It was in the newspapers ( The drink's notoriety saw it banned in some pubs) . Snake bite was everywhere it was all over your fishnet tights as you made your way home. But nothintg last forever.

As the 1990s gathered pace, snakebite was betrayed by the alcopop- a member of the beverage sub-genre it had helped create. Faced with an ouslaught of young pretenders- each stickier and more fuorescent than the last, snakebite and black shuffled back into the shadows.

NOT ANY MORE.