The newest popular beverage to sweep campus, the energy-alcohol hybrid beverage known as Four Lokos, can be purchased at nearby as Metro Food Mart or Walmart.
The controversial concoction that UT senior Michael Hannon referred to as “the quintessential black-out drink” is typically sold in large, 23.5 ounce cans and comes in an impressive array of nine flavors like citrus and blue raspberry.
The beverage is roughly 12 percent alcohol, comparable to about four beers, according to the company’s website, and has the caffeine equivalent of a venti-sized coffee at Starbucks.
It is relatively affordable for the average college budget at around $2.50 a can.
Four Loko’s high potential for a quick buzz, its role in helping to alleviate tiredness, and, not least of all, it’s increasingly taboo status, has made it highly attractive to young drinkers across the nation.
Unfortunately, these same factors have caused the beverage to come under recent scrutiny for health concerns.
From a dietary perspective, Four Lokos is obscenely fattening. One can contains a staggering total of 630 calories and 60 grams of sugar.
The dual combination of depressants and stimulants has many critics worried. Not only is the composition potentially detrimental to heart health, but it tends to confuse drinkers as to their true state of intoxication and alertness while they are under the influence.
The growing notoriety of the beverage has caused experimentation on a mass scale. K. Ryan Jones, a well known New York filmmaker, even went so far as to document his personal encounter with the drink for the purposes of advancing science and educating viewers.
His resulting decline into a state of paranoid drunkenness is as sobering a spectacle as it is laughable.
Numerous other documentaries and discussions of the controversial drink have surfaced all across the web. A more tragic instance of potential Four Loko abuse can be found in the unfortunate tale of Florida State University sophomore Jason Keiran.
Less than a day after imbibing the beverage, 20-year-old Keiran accidentally shot and killed himself with a loaded pistol belonging to a friend.
Although a matter of ranging opinion, the grieving parents blame his jumpiness and lack of judgment on Four Lokos. They are pursuing a lawsuit against Phusion Products, the manufacturer of the drink.
UT senior Sarah Curran expressed her concern over the new craze. “I think its fun to get one and have a little buzz and be pumped up,” she agreed.
“But any more than that and I get scared that my heart will stop or something scary. I’ve heard too many bad stories about those things!”
And as such “bad stories” continue to circulate, restrictions have tightened on the sale and distribution of Four Lokos nationally.
Several states have already banned the beverage, most recently New York, and more are sure to follow. Individual college campuses, where excessive drinking is especially prevalent, have also put restrictions on the infamous drink.
“I think its stupid to ban them,” UT junior Nick Theobald said of the drink. “No matter what, college-age kids will find new and better ways to get drunk. Maybe there could be a regulation on how much caffeine is put in the drink.”
Jumping the gun on an immanent FDA decision regarding the legality and safety of energy drinks containing alcohol, Phusion Products has vowed to do just that.
Cornered by the mounting controversy, the manufacturer is removing caffeine and two other energy-inducing additives to soothe consumer trepidation over the new product.
Jeffrey Palmer can be reached at jeffrey.palmer@spartans.ut.edu.