Caffeinated alcoholic drinks stir up legal concerns

CHICAGO — Mix caffeine with malt liquor, add fruity flavors like grape or orange, and what do you get?

Four Loko and Four Maxed, two beverages made by a Chicago-based company and aimed squarely at a twentysomething crowd weaned on energy drinks.

But to several state attorneys general, Four and beverages of its kind can make drinkers think that caffeine counteracts intoxication, a potentially dangerous illusion, particularly for partying college kids.

Attorneys general from up to 25 states scored a victory in December against caffed-up, high-alcohol brews when MillerCoors, under pressure from the officials, agreed to suck the stimulants out of its Sparks beverage, the market leader. Anheuser-Busch also agreed to do the same with its Tilt and Bud Extra brews.

Now, the attorneys general are investigating Chicago-based Phusion Projects and Los Angeles-based United Brands, respective owners of Four and Joose, the two top brands in the caffeinated alcohol category since Sparks was reformulated.

"We are focusing very actively on the makers of Joose and Four," said Richard Blumenthal, Connecticut's attorney general and a leader of the legal officials' campaign against caffeinated alcohol beverages.

Illinois attorney general Lisa Madigan is "actively investigating Phusion" and remains a part of the multistate effort, according to spokeswoman Natalie Bauer. The attorneys general are examining whether the companies have engaged in misleading marketing.

But United and Phusion appear undaunted. United didn't return calls for comment, and Chris Hunter of Phusion Projects, which also does business under Drink Four Brewing Co., declined to comment beyond saying, "We're letting our products speak for themselves."

Hunter founded Four a few years ago with some friends — twentysomethings at the time. They had met at Ohio State University, according to a November 2007 interview Hunter gave to the Web site CollegeDrinker.

What set Four apart from other energy brews is wormwood oil, he said then. It's a key ingredient in absinthe, a strong, green-hued liquor long believed to cause hallucinations. A chemical called thujone in wormwood oil has psychedelic qualities, so federal food regulators allow wormwood oil as a flavoring only if its thujone has been extracted. But it's not clear whether Four still contains wormwood.

Four's primary ingredients are standard for energy drinks: caffeine, the stimulant guarana and an amino acid called taurine. The beverages come in different flavors, and tropical punch Four Loko tastes like carbonated, spiked fruit punch.