Irn-Bru is a popular fizzy soft drink containing lots of caffeine, sugar, carbon dioxide and plenty of orange colouring. Once advertised in Scotland as 'Your Other National Drink', its taste is not dissimilar to bubble gum. Other advertising campaigns have described it as 'Made in Scotland from Girders'.

Perhaps because of the sugar and caffeine, Irn-Bru is reputed to be a good hangover cure. Indeed, Barr, the manufacturers, have recently teamed up with whisky distillers Bell's to create perhaps the ultimate drink: 'Bell's Irn-Bru', alcohol and hangover cure in one.

It is available in several forms of container, the chief of which is the 750ml glass bottle, which can be returned to an Irn-Bru outlet (usually a local newsagent), obliging the shopkeeper to hand over 20p. Much fun can be had from purchasing goods without having to hand over any actual money to the shopkeeper. Instead, you will leave them with a pile of glass and no money.

Some unscrupulous organizations sell inferior replicas of Irn-Bru. These ersatz beverages, for they are not worthy of the appellation 'drinks', are generally sold under names such as 'Iron Brew'. Any beverage with a variation on the one true spelling of Irn-Bru should be regarded with the utmost suspicion.