 In 2005, the entrepreneurial team designed a prototype "energy beer" now known as Four Loko.Marketed as a "premium malt beverage" in cherry and berry flavors, the drink contained taurine, guarana, caffeine and wormwood—the supposed psychoactive ingredient of absinthe.After a year, the company was running low on investment and decided to drop the wormwood, focusing instead on improving the flavor and increasing the alcohol content.