Scottish shoppers panic buy Irn-Bru ahead of recipe change

Devotees of Irn-Bru, Scotland’s most popular soft drink, are buying and hoarding cans of their favorite beverage after hearing that its sugar levels are about to be halved.

Stephen McLeod Blythe of the Save Real Irn-Bru crusade told the Scottish Sun that people people were “stockpiling”.

The secret recipe will significantly change over the next few weeks for the first time in Irn-Bru’s lengthy history, its manufacturer says. The beverage dates back to 1947 and is often called Scotland's second national drink, after whiskey.

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Soft drink manufacturer AG Barr says the sugar content of Irn-Bru will be cut by about 50% this month, “prompting devotees of the drink to begin stockpiling cans in case the taste changes”, writes i News.

The company released a statement in October saying it would cut the sugar content of the drink, thereby avoiding the Government’s new sugar tax due to come into effect in April.

AG Barr intends to replace the reduced sugar with a mix of low-calorie sweeteners, such as aspartame, already used in thousands of other low-sugar products.