“Blackout in a can” is a nickname for a caffeinated, alcoholic energy drink, such as Four Loko. The caffeine prevents the consumer for realizing the alcoholic intake; drinking an entire can of Four Loko often results in a person blacking out. After blackouts incidents in several colleges, the FDA issue a warning on November 17, 2010 against the manufacture of energy drinks combining caffeine with alcohol.
 
The nickname “blackout in a can” has been cited in print since at least July 9, 2010.
 
Similar expressions include “heart attack on a plate” (since April 1988), “heart attack on a bun” (since February 1992), “heart attack in a bag” (since January 1995), “heart attack on a stick” (since August 1995), “heart attack in a can” (since February 1998). “heart attack in a bottle” (since July 1999) and “porn in a cup” (since November 2010).
 
     
Wikipedia: Four (Energy drink)
FOUR is a trade name of Phusion Projects LLC of Chicago, Illinois for alcoholic energy drinks. This company also operates as Drink Four Brewing Company.
 
The name “Four” is derived from the drink’s four main ingredients: alcohol, caffeine, taurine, and guarana. It also contains carbonated water, sugar, and natural and artificial flavoring.
 
Four debuted in the United States market in 2005. It is now sold in 46 states and in Europe.
 
Four energy drinks have been the object of legal, ethical, and health concerns related to their being marketed to college students.
 
FDA warning
On November 17, 2010 the U.S. FDA Food and Drug Administration issued a warning letter to four manufacturers of caffeinated alcohol beverages. It declared that beverages such as Four energy drinks that combine caffeine with alcohol are a “public health concern” and can’t stay on the market in their current form.
 
The four companies receiving the warning letter are:
 
. Charge Beverages Corp.: Core High Gravity HG, Core High Gravity HG Orange, and Lemon Lime Core Spiked
. New Century Brewing Co., LLC: Moonshot
. Phusion Projects, LLC (doing business as Drink Four Brewing Co.): Four Loko
. United Brands Company Inc.: Joose and Max
(...)
Dangers
See also: Caffeinated alcoholic energy drinks
Four Loko’s potential danger comes from mixing caffeine and alcohol. When alcohol and caffeine are combined, people have reported a reduction of the sensations typically associated with alcohol; this is believed to be a result of caffeine counteracting the depressive effects and keeping the individual more alert. However, when the caffeine wears off the person feels the full effects of the alcohol. This can lead to excess consumption of alcohol because the delayed feeling of drunkenness leads an individual to seek additional alcohol to obtain the same sensations as those found in previous encounters.
   
A study done at the University of Florida in Gainesville, Florida, found that students who mixed caffeine and alcohol thought they were capable of driving more often than those who drank non-caffeinated alcoholic drinks.
   
Bodybuilding.com Forums
Who here has had a Four Loko?
chrislols
07-09-2010, 04:31 PM
hangover in a can
(...)
LostMyKeys
07-09-2010, 04:54 PM
blackout in a can is what we call them.
     
Jeep Patriot Forums
jgg204
08-17-2010, 09:50 AM
Alcoholic Energy Drink “Four Lokos” - Taken Too Far?
I was listening to a talk show this morning and an article was discussed from CBS about this relatively new drink called “Four Lokos” . It’s in a 24oz can with 12% ABV, and has the equivalent of alcohol of 4 beers and the equivalent caffeine of 8 coffees. It tastes like a fruit drink so people pound 2-3 cans back to back since you’re not even aware you’re drinking alcohol. Of course this is dangerous The article points out that this alcoholic energy drink gives you the same bodily response as cocaine due to the large concentrated amounts of both stimulants + depressants, hence they refer to it as the equivalent of “liquid cocaine” and “blackout in a can” .
       
Yale Daily News (New Haven, CT)
Is Yale ready FOURLOKO
By Danny Serna
Friday, October 1, 2010
Call it “blackout in a can.”
 
Since its whirlwind romance with college students began this June, Four Loko has taken the world by storm, becoming a veritable phenomenon faster, even, than Obama, The Beatles or American Eagle. Its name is veiled in mystique, and is quickly becoming a part of the vernacular of the young folks at Yale, in the concrete jungle where dreams are made of there’s nothing you can’t do and even in the sprawl. At Wesleyan University, students rate parties and other cool things based on how “loko” they are. An pretty all right party earns two or maybe three loko, whereas the most out-of-control can score up to 12 loko, said Chase Niesner ’13, who observed his unsavory friends slurp down the nasty nectar last weekend during a visit.
 
Scallywag & Vagabond
Fruit Flavored ‘Blackout in a Can’ Four Lokos Faces Ban
By Anthony D Poerio • Oct 16th, 2010
OK ‘Alcopop’ lovers, It may be time to stock-up on your Four Lokos, as officials at yet another college, Ramapo, in New Jersey (no doubt why it’s become a news story), “decided to outlaw [the drink] after 16 students needed hospital treatment for alcohol poisoning.” But despite the over-eagerness to remedy the university’s high-profile drinking problems, whether Four Loko was the culprit remains entirely in question.
 
New York (NY) Daily News
Boozy energy drink Four Loko - aka ‘Blackout in a Can’ - banned from N.J. college
BY Rosemary Black
DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITER
Tuesday, October 19th 2010, 3:54 PM
Four Loko, the boozy caffeine beverage dubbed “blackout in a can,” has been banned from a New Jersey campus.
 
Officials at Ramapo College in Mahwah, New Jersey are putting the kibosh on the canned drink after 23 students came down with alcohol poisoning and were hospitalized, according to the Associated Press.
 
CNN.com
‘Blackout in a can’ blamed for student party illnesses
October 25, 2010|By Alan Duke, CNN
Nine Central Washington University students hospitalized this month after an off-campus party were sickened by “Four Loko,” a caffeinated malt liquor also known as “blackout in a can,” according to a police investigation.
 
Investigators concluded that none of the students were drugged or given alcohol without their knowledge and no sexual assaults occurred, according to a school statement.
 
The findings convinced university President James Gaudino to ban “alcohol energy drinks” from his campus.