Marketing image from Pabst Brewing Co.
Back in November, state officials helped to KO the alcoholic energy drink Four Loko.
Now, officials across the country, including Attorney General George Jepsen, are opposing a new drink that spawned in Four Loko’s absence, Colt 45’s Blast, which is produced by the Pabst Brewing Company.
The attorneys general are asking the company to reduce the product’s alcohol content and work to prevent underage drinkers from acquiring it.
Pabst is owned by Greenwich-based Metropoulous & Co. after being purchased from an Illinois company in June 2010.
The product was launched earlier this month, but has not yet been licensed to be sold in Connecticut. Jepsen is trying to prevent if from ever hitting the market here.
“The health risks pose a particular threat to youth, given that about 90 percent of the alcohol consumed by Americans under age 21 is while binge drinking,” Jepsen said in a press release.
Blast is sold in bright-colored 23.5 ounce cans that Jepsen said appeal to younger audiences. The alcohol content in one can is 12 percent by volume, which is equivalent to 4.7 servings of alcohol.
Jepsen said drinking one can in less than a hour would qualify as binge drinking by public health standards.
“A product that makes it easier for young people to drink to excess, particularly a high alcohol, “binge-in-a-can” product like Pabst Blast, does not encourage responsible drinking,” he said.
It is promoted by rapper Snoop Dogg on social media sites, which Jepsen and the 15 other AGs who sent the letter to Pabst CEO Dean Metropoulos, said contributes to underage drinking of the product.
Jepsen and the other AGs said in the letter to the brewing company that it is irresponsible to put out a product that contains such a high level of alcohol in a one-serving can.
“Despite the company’s admonition to purchasers to drink responsibly, the product’s design promotes excessive consumption,” he wrote.
Pabst responded in a statement by chief marketing officer Jon Sayer.
“Blast is only meant to be consumed by those above legal drinking age,” Sayer said in the statement, posted online by CNN. “As with all Pabst products, our marketing efforts for Blast are focused on conveying the message of drinking responsibly.”
“To that end, the alcohol content of Blast is clearly marked on its packaging,” Sayer stated.
The full letter addressed to Metropoulos can be viewed here.