• Promo, Friday, May 11, 2007 11:16 AM

A letter signed by attorneys general in 27 states warned Anheuser-Busch yesterday about the promotion and sale of alcohol beverages such as Spykes, Tilt and Bud Extra that that contain caffeine and other stimulants. The AGs expressed "serious concern" that the drinks are highly attractive to underage youth.

The AGs cited the drinks' availability in fruit and chocolate flavors, brightly colored packaging and small-sized containers. The letter also says the Spykes Web site has no effective means of preventing underage people from entering, and that Internet ads offered "vivid" descriptions of the flavors, but no mention that the beverages contain alcohol.

The AGs urged the brewer to include warnings about the risks of mixing energy drinks with alcohol, to deter concealment by underage youth and to employ effective age verification methods at its Web sites. A-B says it created Spykes for adults as a lower alcohol-content alternative to hard liquors, and that critics "fundamentally misunderstand the behavior of many illegal underage drinkers."

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