How many city and state officials does it take to ban another 4Loko-esque drink? Eighteen if you count SF City Attorney and mayoral candidate Dennis Herrera, who has partnered with officials from around the country in calling on a ban of the latest sugary malt beverage craze, “Blast by Colt 45”.
Manufactured by Pabst Brewing Company, the 23.5 ounce can boasts an alcohol concentration of about 12 percent. With that kind of power, Blast is equivalent to nearly 5 servings of alcohol.
That means, says opponents of the drink, that having a Blast too fast actually meets the standard for “binge drinking” as defined by the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism.
The beverage, says the SF City Attorney’s office, comes in “assorted flavors that include grape, strawberry lemonade, strawberry watermelon, and blueberry pomegranate.” It has, as CBS5 reports, a high-profile sponsor in rapper Snoop Dogg.
Pabst has only responded to opponents in a written statement, basically repeating the warning labels on most alcoholic beverages: drink responsibly and legally. Unfortunately, that type of statement isn’t good enough for Herrera or his cohorts.
“Just as we’re seeing real progress from companies and regulators to address the dangers of ‘alcopops,’ along comes fruit-flavored ‘binge-in-a-can.,” says Herrera in a statement.
“When people open a chilled, carbonated beverage, they tend to drink it before it goes warm and flat. That Pabst actually printed ‘Please drink responsibly’ on a 23.5-ounce can, with 12 percent alcohol, is just absurd. You can’t drink it responsibly unless you throw most of it away. There’s nothing responsible about ‘Blast,’ and Pabst needs to fix it.”
Herrera has previously gone after similar beverages, such as MillerCoors’ caffeinated alcoholic monstrosity Sparks.
Opponents argue that similar drinks are both unsafe and potentially illegally marketed to those under the legal drinking age. You can read Herrera and friends’ entire strongly-worded letter blasting Blast here.
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