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Millennials will talk about four loko the same way their parents talked about lawn darts

solardev 2y ago
Wow, as a Millennial, I must've totally missed the memo on this stuff. Never heard of Four Loko or energy beers at all... sounds disgusting.
- antonvs 2y ago
  They weren't actually called energy beers. In the US, they fall under the same legal category as beer, which is "malt beverage", but beer is just one type of malt beverage, drinks like Four Loko are another. They're closer to drinks like "hard lemonade" or "hard tea", which aren't beer. They're made by adding malt liquor to some flavored drink.
  - SOLAR_FIELDS 2y ago
    The author must have just been trying to be cute, because yes, they were never referred to as energy beers. In fact, Four Loko was so popular that the brand itself suffered from genericization, where all caffeinated malt liquors were colloquially referred to as Four Loko
    - deleted 2y ago
      [deleted]
- TylerE 2y ago
  Tho off brand Red Bull with a couple of rotgut vodka shots already mixed in.
- trevor-e 2y ago
  They tasted horrible but were cheap and would get you incredibly wired and drunk in a short amount of time. A perfect storm for binge drinking students, especially pre-gaming early in the night for other parties/bars. It was a fun time for a year or so but can understand the ban.
sneak 2y ago
You can’t buy lawn darts anymore. Every bar will make you a vodka redbull.
- maneesh 2y ago
  Will they put four vodkas and 3 red bulls in a single glass for the price of a college students budget? Because that was a four loko
  - deleted 2y ago
    [deleted]
- antonvs 2y ago
  You'd have to ask for more than three and a half shots of vodka to match the alcohol in a 22oz Four Loko can.
  - antonvs 2y ago
    Correcting myself: I was thinking of a different can apparently. That 12% ABV can mentioned in the article corresponds to 4.4 shots of vodka (using standard US 1.5 oz shots of 80 proof vodka.)
    - deleted 2y ago
      [deleted]
  - Al-Khwarizmi 2y ago
    As someone from a country where when you ask for a drink, you get like 3x as much vodka as you would in the UK or US, when I was young I typically drank vodka with lemon soda, but when I lived in the UK I switched to vodka red bull. The reasoning was "so little vodka does nothing so let's see if at least the red bull does something" which was at least partially true, although still didn't make up for the lost alcohol content with respect to what I was used to :) Back to my place, I stopped having vodka red bull except very infrequently to remember those times, but here, with serious amounts of vodka, it's quite a bomb. I've never seen these energy beers (not sure if they were even sold in my country or countries where I lived) but I might have liked them.
dwater 2y ago
I was in college when Sparks was first released and it became an indelible part of the college party experience for a few short years. I saved a few packs after the ban and brought them out for a 10 year reunion. People were jubilant to get to experience it again, and thankfully there was only enough for everyone to have a bit, because it’s one of those things that only the metabolism of a still growing person can handle without serious consequences.
- evanelias 2y ago
  Sparks also aligned well with the burgeoning post-punk revival / indie dance scene of the early to mid aughts. In Baltimore, one of the monthly dance parties was doing Sparks happy hours for a while. The deal was absurdly cheap, especially for a big music venue -- two or three dollars per can if I recall, but my memory is hazy for obvious reasons! Combined with good DJs and a very reasonable cover charge (for example $5 to see Diplo before he got huge), it was quite a time...
- doubleg72 2y ago
  Haha yes, I was in 11/12th grade when Sparks came out. What a unique time to be alive.
pyinstallwoes 2y ago
What’s a lawn dart?
- DoktorDelta 2y ago
  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lawn_darts https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lawn_darts

Wow, as a Millennial, I must've totally missed the memo on this stuff. Never heard of Four Loko or energy beers at all... sounds disgusting.

antonvs 2y ago
They weren't actually called energy beers. In the US, they fall under the same legal category as beer, which is "malt beverage", but beer is just one type of malt beverage, drinks like Four Loko are another. They're closer to drinks like "hard lemonade" or "hard tea", which aren't beer. They're made by adding malt liquor to some flavored drink.
- SOLAR_FIELDS 2y ago
  The author must have just been trying to be cute, because yes, they were never referred to as energy beers. In fact, Four Loko was so popular that the brand itself suffered from genericization, where all caffeinated malt liquors were colloquially referred to as Four Loko
  - deleted 2y ago
    [deleted]
TylerE 2y ago
Tho off brand Red Bull with a couple of rotgut vodka shots already mixed in.
trevor-e 2y ago
They tasted horrible but were cheap and would get you incredibly wired and drunk in a short amount of time. A perfect storm for binge drinking students, especially pre-gaming early in the night for other parties/bars. It was a fun time for a year or so but can understand the ban.

sneak 2y ago

You can’t buy lawn darts anymore. Every bar will make you a vodka redbull.

maneesh 2y ago
Will they put four vodkas and 3 red bulls in a single glass for the price of a college students budget? Because that was a four loko
- deleted 2y ago
  [deleted]
antonvs 2y ago
You'd have to ask for more than three and a half shots of vodka to match the alcohol in a 22oz Four Loko can.
- antonvs 2y ago
  Correcting myself: I was thinking of a different can apparently. That 12% ABV can mentioned in the article corresponds to 4.4 shots of vodka (using standard US 1.5 oz shots of 80 proof vodka.)
  - deleted 2y ago
    [deleted]
- Al-Khwarizmi 2y ago
  As someone from a country where when you ask for a drink, you get like 3x as much vodka as you would in the UK or US, when I was young I typically drank vodka with lemon soda, but when I lived in the UK I switched to vodka red bull. The reasoning was "so little vodka does nothing so let's see if at least the red bull does something" which was at least partially true, although still didn't make up for the lost alcohol content with respect to what I was used to :) Back to my place, I stopped having vodka red bull except very infrequently to remember those times, but here, with serious amounts of vodka, it's quite a bomb. I've never seen these energy beers (not sure if they were even sold in my country or countries where I lived) but I might have liked them.

dwater 2y ago

I was in college when Sparks was first released and it became an indelible part of the college party experience for a few short years. I saved a few packs after the ban and brought them out for a 10 year reunion. People were jubilant to get to experience it again, and thankfully there was only enough for everyone to have a bit, because it’s one of those things that only the metabolism of a still growing person can handle without serious consequences.

evanelias 2y ago
Sparks also aligned well with the burgeoning post-punk revival / indie dance scene of the early to mid aughts. In Baltimore, one of the monthly dance parties was doing Sparks happy hours for a while. The deal was absurdly cheap, especially for a big music venue -- two or three dollars per can if I recall, but my memory is hazy for obvious reasons! Combined with good DJs and a very reasonable cover charge (for example $5 to see Diplo before he got huge), it was quite a time...
doubleg72 2y ago
Haha yes, I was in 11/12th grade when Sparks came out. What a unique time to be alive.

pyinstallwoes 2y ago

What’s a lawn dart?

DoktorDelta 2y ago
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lawn_darts https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lawn_darts