Babycham – the “sparkling champagne perry” that took Britain by storm sixty years ago – is being relaunched.
During its 70s heyday the drink – with its famous “Bambi” logo – was selling 144 million bottles a year.
It was marketed towards women and was the first alcoholic drink to be advertised on the television.
Although Babycham has never gone away it has lost its fizz over the last fifty years.
The drink was invented by Francis Showering who’d built a brewing empire after WWI.
However, the traditional perry had been made in the south west of England for hundreds of years.
His grandson Matthew Showering said:
“We will get closer to the original production method and recipe, as some things got chiselled away for speed with mass production.
‘And we are going towards the original look too, so we’ll have quite a retro feel which, oddly, will make it more modern.”
The drink is being made at its old base in Shepton Mallet, Somerset.
Matthew said:
‘If you were to put a Babycham and a prosecco, or even a Champagne, side by side, there are an awful lot of people who would actually prefer the Babycham, because it hasn’t got that dry rasp.
“We want to keep that sense of celebration about it.
“Back then, nearly all drinks were sold in pubs, and Babycham were the masters of point-of-sale marketing.
“You’d have a glass there on show and maybe a little deer on the bar.”
