I think nearly everyone has heard of Four Loko by now. It's been all over the news, and banned in several states for sending many people to the hospital. This is prime territory for adventurous drinkers (see spike shooter) -- I had to see what all the fuss was about.

For those of you who haven't heard of Four Loko, it's an energy drink that contains about 12% alcohol, and it comes in a gigantic can. I've heard that one can has the same amount of alcohol as 5 or 6 beers, and the same caffeine as two cups of coffee. Fruit punch Four Loko tastes like Hawaiian punch with a bite. It has the "energy drink" flavor too, like monster. Overall not that bad tasting though. You can barely tell that it has alcohol in it, and it goes down pretty smoothly.

I could definitely feel it in my heart started beating faster after about a quarter of the can, and I felt a little achy in my stomach not long after that. The effect though, is less like alcohol, and more like an energy drink. With 2 of my friends, we killed two cans of Four Loko between the three of us in about half an hour, and I was feeling really pumped and energetic, not at all tipsy.

It took about an hour after finishing the can that I started to feel the effects of the alcohol and then it continued to have a greater effect over the next few hours. I could easily see how someone could drink one or two in a short period and not realize that they were getting drunk because of the offsetting effect that the energy has on you. I don't recommend anyone drinnk it, and if you do, definitely not more than one can, no matter how good you feel after the first one.  I think it's going to be hard to get for most people anyway. The day after I tried it, Four Loko was banned in New York.

This Black Currant Juice drink comes from Connecticut, where I picked it up in a local grocery store. It's a dark juice, and very strong smell, a lot like concord grape, and similar almost to wine. The taste is very much like a dark purple grape juice. There are slight tannins, but overall it's a very smooth drink.

It only has 3 ingredients: water, black currant juice (from concentrate), and fructose. But it's only 22% juice. How can that be? I'm not sure, maybe that means it's only 22% concentrate, with the water as the majority of the other 78%. If you know how they calculate the percentage of juice, please leave a comment. Regardless, this leads me to imagine that straight-up black currant juice is probably either bitter or sour - which is why cranberry juice is usually sold as a juice blend. The water and sugar really easily cut that though if it's the case, because it's actually very good.

Black currant is a small black fruit very high in antioxidants and vitamins, including Vitamin C. It has four times the Vitamin C of oranges, and twice as many antioxidants as blueberries. I think that qualifies it as a superfruit. It comes from Europe, and is working on making a comeback in the United States where it was banned in the past because of a threat to the logging industry. It is still banned in some states.

The black currant juice I tried was made by Currant Affair. You can visit their website at www.ConnecticutCurrant.com