Four Loko's New Bottled Shots Are Turning Heads

Four Loko is synonymous for sprucing up parties with its variety of drinks. According to the brand's official website, the drink had humble beginnings and began as a business idea among friends. Now over the years, it has managed to grow in popularity and build a strong fan base of people who appreciate the sweeter spiked beverages the brand has to offer. A description on the brand's website reads, "Reinvention and risk-taking is in our DNA," and many of the products, including its newest launch, fit well under this motto.

A Reddit thread dove into what drinking Four Loko products is like, especially for those who haven't tried one. A commentator explained, "It's essentially a spiked energy drink. Think of it as drinking a large red bull with liquor in it. Kids used to drink them pretty heavily because they are fruity and taste better than most cheap alcohol." According to Newsweek, the brand's experimenting did get it into trouble when it first launched in 2005 on account of the fact that it had both caffeine and alcohol, a potent combination, in its drinks that caused many young drinkers to get sick and end up being hospitalized. 

Eventually, the brand simply eliminated caffeine from its beverages. A representative of Four Loko told Mashed, "Four Loko products do not contain any harmful ingredients such as caffeine. As part of a voluntary product reformulation in 2010, we removed caffeine from the beverage thus, Four Loko's contents are to the standard you would expect in a premium malt beverage. That said, any alcoholic beverage has the potential to have dangerous effects when not consumed responsibly. We encourage people to enjoy our products responsibly."

These days, the brand has continued to experiment with its products, offering customers options like spiked seltzer, but now Four Loko has come up with new shots and variants, reports Delish.

Four Loko's new range is aptly titled, "Pregame" and is essentially made up of non-carbonated drinks that can be enjoyed on their own or with a bit of soda if you'd like some variety. You can choose from three flavors, as explained by Delish: Sour Blue Razz, Lemonade, and Sour Peach, and each shot typically has 13.9 percent ABV depending where you live — the exception is Tennessee where drinks need to have around 10 percent ABV. So, what can you expect? Strong drinks with extra sweet flavors.

Is there a catch? Sort of. The drinks are currently only available in the southeastern part of the U.S., which means that you can get your hands on them if you are in North or South Carolina, Virginia, Alabama, and Tennessee. Sigh. If you don't have access to these drinks, you could perhaps experiment with an innovative homemade recipe and prepare your own shots over the weekend.

Note: A Four Loko representative said the following in a statement to Mashed: Four Loko products do not contain any harmful ingredients such as caffeine. As part of a voluntary product reformulation in 2010, we removed caffeine from the beverage thus, Four Loko's contents are to the standard you would expect in a premium malt beverage. That said, any alcoholic beverage has the potential to have dangerous effects when not consumed responsibly. We encourage people to enjoy our products responsibly.