Caffeine, Taurine, Alcohol and Wormwood? Superstrong Four Malt Liquor

Wormwood is the thing that makes Absinthe, the supposedly hallucinogenic wine-like alcohol so fantastic. This substance itself is legal in the United States, even though Absinthe itself is not legal here. Wormwood is also the extract that is the special ingredient in a new malt energy drink.Four maxed is also the strongest of all the caffeinated alcoholic malt beverages I have ever tried - coming in at a whopping 10 percent alcohol. Although this was not the same as dropping a couple tabs of windowpane, if you can handle the first 3 or four swallows of this drink you can definitely feel the effects of this drink and will leave you buzzed in a number of special ways. Wormwood is supposedly an aphrodisiac, so like many other energy drinks with mysterious sexy ingredients, they are touting this as a sexual enhancer to help you going.

The interesting thing about this drink is that the alcoholic content may actually lose some inhibitions, as alcohol tends to do. Like Shakespeare says, liquor " helps you stand to, but not stand to - it provokes the desire, although it takes away from the performance..." The caffeine can counterbalance this though, helping you not only get frisky, but give you the energy to do something about it.

Four is not available everywhere yet, but consider yourself lucky if you can get hold of it. I found mine while traveling through Arizona, and it is available in 16 other states, mainly in the Midwest US. With all the new lawsuits and controversy surrounding energy malt drinks,they might have a harder time getting this into other markets.

Taste:6
Much like Sparks, Four takes some getting used to - it is not an easy drink to slam. But unlike Sparks or Tilt, this one is very unique, tasting like grape - and comes in a dark purple hue. It is definitely malt-y, which works very strangely with the bitterness and sourness of the energy ingredients. Unfortunately, the drink comes out very bitter, and although I found it easier to drink once I drained the first can ( of course, every malt liquor tastes better the more cans you have) that does not make this flavor taste any better - just easier to get down.

Packaging:8
"big enough to get the job done right," according to its Web site, drinkfour.com. This is the standard 16oz can, and certainly enough figuring the alcoholic content. Surprisingly, there is no " THIS IS AN ANCOHOLIC BEVERAGE TO DONT SELL IT TO KIDS" print on here - just 2 small "We ID" badges and the government warning on alcohol. "Some people, I guess, call them energy drinks, and maybe that's where the confusion is created," Hunter said. "We take extra precautions to make sure that they know that these are alcoholic drinks." Not that much - but As long as the FDA does not give them a hard time, I certainly think the drink look better without it.

Arriving in a deep blue and white can, while not exceptional, it is still a very pretty can. It stands out from the other malt liquors out there, and looks wildly different from Tilt, Sparks and all the rest. I like the cleanness of the can, reminding me of the drinks put out by Socko. They also double label it so it will be easier to find if the convenience store clerk knocked one too many of these back before his shift and puts the cans in all screwy. Only real issues I see is there is no listing of any ingredients on here - which although not needed for alcoholic drinks, it would be nice to get an accurate caffeine count.
I get the name, Four, to be that there is Caffeine , Taurine, Alcohol and wormwood oil - although I cant be sure. Maybe they are in the camp that think that guarana is not caffeine so it can be a separate ingredient.

Buzz:8
Thujone is what wormwood has that makes it so fun, and is an extract with is sadly not found in Four. It cant be - thujone is illegal to sell in the US everywhere - even in Arizona - where rules about holidays and time don't apply. Four uses an FDA certified wormwood oil which is thujone free.It's just labeled "wormwood oil", so no idea what kind of wormwood or from where it came.

So this wont make you get tripping - but it will make you drunk - and while the caffeine is not overpowering, it will give you enough alertness to counteract the droopiness a heavy malt drink would normally give. After drinking a couple of these you will definitely have enough energy for a couple hours - but not enough to keep you up way past your bedtime. My guess is there is about 75-100mg per entire can, so it may not have as much caffeine as Red Bull, but the added 10% alcohol would help.

Website:8 drinkfour.com/fourbase.html
Main website is down, but you can still get it through http://www.drinkfour.com/fourbase.html.
The flash is really nice here - carrying a lovely and unique style throughout. The way things flip up works well, and the categories are different, but work pretty well. I enjoy the tab design, and like that if you hate the music or are at work you can find the off button easily. Sure - it is very silly, but there is nothing wrong with some of that as long as you remember to put info on the drinks, the company, and actual information too. The behind the scenes code is nice too, knowing how to make a small flash call on a page and have it look nice.

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