Welcome to Public Health On Call, a podcast from the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health,

where we bring evidence, experience, and perspective to make sense of today's leading health challenges.

If you have questions or ideas for us, please send an email to public health question at jhh.edu.

That's public health question at jhhu.edu for future podcast episodes.

This is Lindsay Smith Rogers.

Today, we're bringing you a different sort of podcast. To be specific, an episode of TapLines,

a Vine Pair podcast. Taplines tells stories of the history of the alcohol industry, while, as you know,

public health on call is all about public health. But then one day, our worlds collided.

TapLines podcast host, Dave Infante, invited our own Dr. Josh Sharfstein to his podcast to talk about Forloco, the popular caffeinated alcoholic drink from a decade ago.

It turns out that Dr. Sharfstein served as the principal deputy commissioner of the FDA during the agency's analysis of the safety of the beverage and was very involved

in the federal crackdown that wound up taking it off the market. What happens when an alcohol

enthusiast meets a former federal regulator? Thanks to Tap Lines for letting us bring you this

interview here. A link to the original podcast is in the show notes. Let's listen.

Hey, this is Dave Infante. Welcome to Vine Pairs Tap Lines, a weekly interview series with

brewing icons, industry insiders,

and outspoken experts about the United States' most beloved and best-selling beers.

It's modern American history, one beer at a time.

How old are you, Taplines, listener? As we've recorded this in June 2023, I'm 34, which means my senior year at college unfolded across 2009 and 2010.

And that means I capped off my undergrad career drinking in the high-gravity heyday of original formula for Loco.

The infamous energy drink malt liquor hybrid hit university campuses across the country like

an absolute freight train in the mid-aughts, delivering fruity flavor, serious ABV, and a kick

of caffeine to America's youngest, most inexperienced drinkers.

...