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Four Loko Is Dead, Long Live Four Loko?
By
Ben Yakas
Published Mar 23, 2011
Modified Mar 23, 2011
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By
Ben Yakas
Published Mar 23, 2011
Modified Mar 23, 2011
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It's been a few months since beloved alco-caffeinated backwash drink Four Loko was neutered by the FDA, forced to remove the caffeine from its sugary equation, thus denying millions of teens the chance to get blacked out and make soapy skateboard videos. But as we spotted in Dumbo recently, the new caffeine-free version is in stores! But will people still buy it?
The News still thinks that kids will flock to the beverage, which is essentally a jollyrancher-flavored beer now: "Caffeine or not, if they are still selling it to kids, we will be cracking down. Kids still like it," said Michael Jones, who runs the State Liquor Authority's city operations. But the drink has seen some extremely bad press lately: a Texas mother was arrested and charged with child endangerment after her 20-month-old daughter was found drunk on the brew. Yesterday, a NJ man sued the company for giving him heart arrhythmia. And the company is also being sued for fraud, for allegedly misleading its customers about the potency of the drink with its marketing.
In addition, there is now a new slew of imitators on the market to compete with, including Blast, a 12% alcohol candy-flavored malt liquor from the makers of Colt 45 which is being promoted by our old buddy Snoop Dogg. You can check out a promo video for the drink, featuring Snoop hanging out with ladies, below.
Back in November, we took it upon ourselves to force down a can of the frothy brew, and noted the "overwhelmingly noxious sickly-sweet flavor of the drink." So we are kind of avoiding trying the newest version, but we're wondering: have any of you tried the caffeine-less Four Loko? Does it taste any better? Is the promise of a blackout-in-a-can no more?
Tagged
alcohol
blast
four loko
fruity beer
snoop dogg
Ben Yakas
Ben Yakas is a former Gothamist reporter.
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