At one point this year, sales of the syrupy, caffeine-infused malt beverage Four Loko were so flat that the manager at Quality Liquors in downtown Salem stopped selling it for a while.
Then came the news stories about the drink's powerful, one-two punch of alcohol and caffeine — reportedly the equivalent of drinking three beers, a can of Red Bull and a shot of espresso — and subsequent attempts to ban the carbonated concoction, nicknamed "blackout in a can."
"It's selling like crazy now," said Peter Ingemi, the store's manager. "The numbers have definitely gone way up ever since the negative press started.
"It seems like a lot of our customers are hearing about it on the news, and they're coming in and trying it out. At first, it seemed to be mostly college kids drinking it, the younger end of my customers, the under-30 crowd. Now it's definitely starting to carry over just out of curiosity."
Ingemi estimates the store now sells 20 to 30 cases of Four Loko every week.
The Four Loko craze, which has led to the hospitalization of nearly two dozen college students across the country, prompted state regulators to announce yesterday that it will take emergency action on Monday against alcohol energy drinks.
Under the state's Alcoholic Beverages Control Commission regulation, liquor stores wouldn't be able to sell drinks like Four Loko as malt beverages if they contain caffeine, taurine or other stimulants.
To skirt the ban, however, the manufacturer could repackage the drink in resealable containers, effectively placing it in the same category as liquor. Stores licensed to sell only beer, wine and malt beverages, however, would still be prohibited from selling Four Loko.
Also yesterday, the Associated Press reported the FDA would soon move to ban caffeinated alcoholic drinks as early as this week.
In some cases, however, liquor store owners themselves have already beaten regulators to the prohibition.
Several North Shore package stores pulled Four Loko from the shelves weeks ago over concerns about underage boozing and drunken driving.
"A lot of college kids in some of our other stores were bringing it back to the dorms and getting in trouble," said Steve Katzen, the general manager of Kappy's in Peabody, which stopped selling the drink three weeks ago. "We don't need that business."
Cliff Ansara of Vinnin Square Liquors and Lynnway Liquor Mart decided to stop ordering Four Loko after news reports surfaced of its caffeinated, 12 percent-alcohol-by-volume potency.
"It's not a good idea for items like this to come out on the market," Ansara said. "It's not good for the alcohol industry in general. These products are geared mostly toward kids. They want to get drunk really fast, really cheap. When they do something like that, parents have lots of nightmares and it ends up in the newspapers and it gives the industry a bad image."
Ansara also worries that because the drink looks like a soda, comes in an individual can and is sold chilled, it could lead to more drunken driving.
"We have to be cognizant of the community," Ansara said. "We tried to do the right thing."
Other stores, including Bunghole Liquors in Peabody and Cosgrove Liquors in Salem, said they also pulled the drinks after briefly selling them.
Karen Hruska, director of health education at Salem State University, supports a statewide ban, arguing that merely informing students about the harmful effects of Four Loko can sometimes backfire.
"I think we provide all the education we can on the risks of it," she said, "but I think we also need to be aware that sometimes talking about how strong it is might encourage somebody to try it."
Salem State has a no-alcohol policy with the exception of a few apartment-style units for upperclassmen. The university has sent out information in its newsletter, put up posters and placed information on its website warning of Four Loko's effects.
But students are still drinking it, she said.
"In some funny ways, they say it tastes like cough syrup, that it tastes awful," she said. "They don't know why anyone would drink it, yet it's inexpensive. They're referring to it as 'blackout in a can' because it's so strong."
In an open letter to state and federal regulators, the drink's manufacturer, Phusion Projects, rejected the idea that mixing caffeine and alcohol is inherently unsafe, but agreed with "the goal of keeping adults of legal age who choose to drink responsibly as safe and as informed as possible."
Hruska, however, argues the company is marketing directly to an age group particularly prone to addiction.
"The No. 1 cause of death for this age group (18- to 24-year-olds) is accidents," Hruska said. "Of those accidents, about 70 percent are connected to drugs and alcohol. We don't need a product like this out there."
Staff writer Chris Cassidy can be reached at ccassidy@salemnews.com.
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