Four Loko

[dReWpY]

i downed two friday night, no ill effects... for the most part

[t-homo]

louisville chugger with 4 loko is a great idea, btw.

[ontwo]

I tried a sip of the watermelon one at the club the other night. Wasn't bad. Just not my type of drink at all. Can't drink sweet, fruity shit.

[Homeslice]

ownage.....

Michigan, colleges ban Four Loko
By Liz Goodwin liz Goodwin Fri Nov 5, 4:16 pm ET

The state of Michigan has officially banned Four Loko, the highly caffeinated alcoholic beverage that's gotten a whole lot of bad press this fall. In a series of incidents, numerous college kids ended up hospitalized around the country after apparently ingesting copious amounts of the multi-stimulating beverage.

The Michigan ban states that all alcoholic energy drinks "pose serious health and safety risks to American youth" and must be taken off the shelves within 30 days.

But is Four Loko really that bad?

Drinking one can of Four Loko is said to be the rough equivalent of downing five light beers and a cup of coffee -- but for the low, low price of about $2.50. "If you set out to engineer a booze delivery system that is as cloying, deceptive and divorced from the usual smells, tastes and presentation of alcohol as possible, you'd be hard pressed to come up with something more impressive than Four Loko," former New York Times food critic Frank Bruni opined last week, after generously sampling the beverage.

But taste aside, mixing caffeine with alcohol can have a disorienting effect on the drinker, making it harder for him to realize he is becoming intoxicated, health professionals say.

"It can cause you to become a 'wide-awake drunk,' " Madeleine Estabrook, executive director of university health and counseling services at Northeastern University, told the Boston Globe. "You mistakenly conclude you can perform potentially dangerous tasks, like driving or crossing a busy road.''

In October, nine college freshmen at Central Washington Unversity were hospitalized after drinking Four Loko at a party -- they were so intoxicated that police originally thought they had been drugged. More than 20 students at Ramapo College in New Jersey also ended up hospitalized in the space of a month after drinking Four Loko, and the college has since banned the drink.

Eighteen attorneys general have urged the FDA to investigate the drink, and the agency is now asking 30 manufacturers of alcoholic energy drinks to prove their products are safe. Critics also say the fruity flavor and bright packaging of Four Loko are meant to appeal to young people.

Boston College, Northeastern University, Harvard University, the University of Rhode Island and other colleges have banned or warned students about the drink. Meanwhile, Phusion Projects, the drink's manufacturer, says it is opposed to both underage and binge drinking and has hired a PR firm to quibble with reporters over exactly how much alcohol its products contain. Phusion is also considering legal options to challenge the Michigan ban, according to the Wall Street Journal, and argues that people have been mixing alcohol and caffeine long before Four Loko came along.

Fittingly, the drink that is getting so many college kids into trouble was invented in 2005 by three Ohio State college students. They wanted to harness the popularity of mixed drinks in bars and clubs that contained Red Bull and other energy beverages.

[Krypt Keeper]

i got the lemonade one the other day to see what all the fuss was.. tasted like crap

drank about half and poured it down the drain, went to the fridge of got a Yuengling and all was better.

[Akilldema]

The purple one and the watermelon ones taste like carbonated wine with a lot of sugar. I always sleep like total shit after drinking those and get major bloat, but they do get you fucked up..which would be the only possible reason to drink one. Either stock up on liquor so you don't have to resort to this because the ABC is closed or man up and drink some strong beer.

[Akilldema]

http://www.collegehumor.com/video:1943435

[TYEster]

Originally Posted by Akilldema

stock up on liquor

I don't understand why people don't just do this instead of buying cases of beer or all kinds of crazy ass drinks?

Nothing will get you fucked up faster for your dollar than 1oz of 40+proof than 8oz of 5%. And taste isn't an excuse, because about a million drinks can be made taste great.(or like shit too if that's your gig!)

Quality > quantity

[ontwo]

I gave the four loko an official test the other night. As mentioned in the article above, I can see why colleges are warning about this stuff. First, I am a daily liquor drinker and I'm 36 years old. I drank 2 of these things inside of an hour. Knowing my tolerance, that was enough. These things will get you fucked up in a hurry and for little cash.

So I can see the danger to some college freshman who knows nothing about his tolerance and just keeps downing these things all night. Not to mention the 90 pound girl who gets roughly the equivalent of a six pack of beer in 2 cans.

Should it be banned? Why hell no. But should kids be warned about it? Yes. Would I drink it again? Nope. Just not my taste. But I had to give it a try the other night while the wifey and I were out.

[dubbs]

Originally Posted by TYEster

I don't understand why people don't just do this instead of buying cases of beer or all kinds of crazy ass drinks?

Nothing will get you fucked up faster for your dollar than 1oz of 40+proof than 8oz of 5%. And taste isn't an excuse, because about a million drinks can be made taste great.(or like shit too if that's your gig!)

Quality > quantity

Maybe some people really do like the taste of beer more than liquor. I like to drink beer some times because it's a lot harder for me to get carried away like I easily do with liquor. I can down a Long Island Iced Tea in about 2 mins because it tastes like there's no alcohol there.. Where as a beer most of the time takes longer and obviously there's a lot less alcohol there.

It really depends on what you're after, if you just want to get drunk, then downing alcohol will obviously do the job most efficiently. But if you like drinking for the enjoyment of the taste and the buzz is a good side effect, I could see why someone would choose wine or beer. Also with the different drinks there are different types of drunkeness