It was Prohibition all over again. Eventually, the black market well dried up, and all that we're left with today, ten years later, is a sickly sweet, high ABV, caffeine-free drink in a camo tall boy can.
My brother, who was born in and currently goes to university in Ontario, Canada, where Four Loko was never legal in the first place, knows exactly what it is when I ask. Its reputation has outlived its actual effects by a decade.
Was the original Four Loko really that destructive, or was it the fact it was only available for a short, blackout blip in time, that cemented it into urban legend? The young adults of today may never know. United States. Type keyword s to search. Today's Top Stories. Every 'Bond' Film Ever, Ranked. Leaving Afghanistan Behind. Getty Images. Related Stories. This content is imported from YouTube. To help create the flavor for the drink, the company enlisted a group of friends to work as taste testers.
They originally wanted the flavor to be similar to cherry vodka, but decided to test the product on the market once they found something everyone agreed they would be willing to drink. Initially, the beverage did not perform well, which caused the pair to go back and make some changes.
They decided to make the cans larger, raise the alcohol level, and redo the flavor to create a more palatable taste than the one they had originally settled on. They also added Four Loko's signature neon camouflage print to the cans, which was chosen to help the product stand out more from other malt beverage drinks on the shelves.
The real trouble for the company came in , when drinking Four Loko was linked to a series of injuries and deaths in young people. Mixing caffeine and alcohol is extremely dangerous, according to the Centers for Disease Control , as caffeine masks the depressant effects of alcohol and can cause people to become much more drunk than they realize. The Legal Examiner states that the infamous four ingredients in Four Loko which caused the drink to be such a dangerous blend were alcohol, taurine, caffeine, and guarana, which are three stimulants and one depressant.
Each ounce can contained as much alcohol as four to six beers and as much caffeine as four to six cups of coffee. Four Loko's current recipe is a blend of malt liquor and "natural and artificial flavors. As far as alcohol content by volume ABV , that varies by state, with numbers ranging from eight to fourteen percent.
Okay, so it's not as strong as some of these strongest cocktails in the world , but I'm sure you could still get pretty tipsy after just one can. A few years ago, drinking a Four Loko was almost taboo. The allure of these drinks was due to the FDA's warning that adding caffeine, one of the former main ingredients in Four Loko drinks, is unsafe to add to malt liquor.
Four Loko voluntarily changed the formula to the drink in , and this time it's back in stores without the caffeine. Though some store owners are quick to point out that they're now selling less of the drink , I'd rather have a safer drink than one that sounds cool. In a word? Four Loko is pretty much like any other mixed drink you can get on the market nowadays. Now that it's not being branded as an "alcoholic energy drink ," there's no reason to be afraid of the stuff.
Though it may have gotten a bad rep before, being banned across college campuses and even across whole states, Four Loko can be purchased today in 49 states and in countries around the world.
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