Women Campus | Hello beautiful!: Joose, Four Loko, Whipahol & More: A Look at This Year's Most Infamous Beverages On Campus - Part 2

The drink: Colt 45

What is it? Known as the original malt liquor that was created in 1963, Colt continues to be sold on supermarket stands. It is currently sold in various packages and sizes; the 40-ounce bottle has an 8 percent alcohol content.

Where is it now? Sold on supermarket stands, but has become increasingly more difficult to find.

The controversy: Known for its high alcohol-content in just one bottle and for allegedly targeting underage drinkers by having Snoop Dogg promote a new line of the drink, Blast by Colt 45.

Percent of collegiettes™ who have tried it: 21

A college guy's tale: "I have lots of experience drinking Colt 45…they're the perfect budget drink. Getting drunk on the cheap is great, and with enough practice you don't even get a hangover." —Brian*, a sophomore at University of Illinois

Why these drinks?

Even though these drinks, which mostly were caffeinated when first produced, are now allegedly safer to consume—criticisms continue to arise. These drinks are still higher in alcohol content causing students to become drunker, faster. Some collegiettes™ tell us why they are choosing these beverages.

Accessibility: "The reasons I would ever go for a Tilt, Colt 45 or Sparks over another drink is because they are easy to purchase at gas stations and our local campus staple, WAWA. I would never choose one of these beverages over wine or a hard liquor, but sometimes you just gotta do what you gotta do. Since WAWA is within walking distance to campus, if we've been drinking we will walk there to get more alcohol and they only sell really gross wine, overpriced beer and malt beverages like Tilt and Colt 45," says Diane*, a senior at The College of William and Mary.
Easy to Monitor: "This goes for all those drinks like Tilt, Colt 45, Four Loko's, Sparks, etc. I don't see them as any more dangerous than a bottle of vodka or whiskey because you can take shot after shot of those and end up pretty drunk, pretty fast. At least with those drinks I mentioned above, you can open one and sip on it the entire night, always knowing how much you've had."—Catherine*, a junior at North Carolina State University
Economical: "All I can say is that when I used to drink them, half of a Four Loko would get me wasted. I actually really liked them; they were cheap and fruity tasting, but it is for the best they were taken off the market!" — Katie*, a junior at the University of Iowa.

If you're going to drink it— drink it responsibly

From the collegiettes™ who admitted to having an all-around bad experience with one of these drinks, a common mistake was that these students didn't know exactly how much they were ingesting.

"The whipped cream vodka was very deceiving. Because it's not a drink, it's very difficult to gauge how much alcohol you are ingesting. I would not try it again," says Leigh from Quinnipiac University.

And one collegiette ™ says the same goes for those drinks that used to be mixed with caffeine.

"Because of the mixture of alcohol and caffeine, it is easy to drink more than you are used to because the way it has different effects on your body which you are not used to," said Haley* from Fordham University.

Thombs, who has conducted alcohol research on young drinkers, said the issue with the mixture of caffeine and alcohol is that the caffeine overrides the "feeling tired" part of being drunk, causing students to drink more and stay out longer.

"What happens is you don't believe how intoxicated you are because you judge intoxication by being tired or droopy," he says.

While he says the newer versions of these drinks are safer than the ones before, there is still concern about students manually mixing caffeine and alcohol together. While Thombs said he has no advice for students on how to drink these without going overboard, a few collegiettes™ offered their advice (in addition to a chart we compiled) to help you understand the amount of alcohol you are consuming when drinking these drinks.

"As for drinking responsibly, the key for me is not to mix these beverages with hard alcohol. I have in the past foolishly added more vodka or other hard alcohol to tilt or sparks make the drinks stronger. That resulted in me blacking out and experiencing a terrible hangover the day after," says Catherine* from North Carolina State University. "Another definite don't with these types of drinks is beer bonging. I have seen people getting really, really drunk and really, really sick by using a beer bong to consume Colt 45, Tilt or Sparks faster. Trust me, it may seem fun at the time but it is not worth it."

This chart was created to help you understand the amount of alcohol you are ingesting. It is based on the number of Bud Lights that have 4.2 alcohol content.

The Drink	Alcohol Content	How Many Bud Lights You Are Drinking
Four Loko	12 percent alcohol in a 23.5 ounce can	About 3 Bud Lights
JOOSE bottle	9.9 percent alcohol content in 12-ounce bottle	About 2.3 Bud Lights
JOOSE can	12 percent alcohol content in 23.5 ounce-can	About 3 Bud Lights
Whipped Lightning	33.5 liquor proof / 16.75 percent alcohol	About 4 Bud Lights in one can
Colt 45	8 percent alcohol content in 40-ounce bottle	A little less than 2 Bud Lights