Caffeinated malt beverages may have been pushed off the shelves by lawmakers worried that young, ignorant drinkers would be unable to resist the marketing tactics, but that didn't put an end to unpalatable alcohol masked by artificial flavoring: fruit-flavored booze-packed caffeine-free replacements are quickly filling the post-Four Loko void.

In fact, Colt 45 -- the original terrible, cheap malt liquor -- just enlisted Snoop Dogg to roll out such a beverage; Blast by Colt 45 will hit store shelves next month.

Blast comes in flavors like strawberry lemonade and blueberry pomegranate and packs a whopping 12 percent alcohol by volume. Snoop will tout the stuff onstage, on Twitter and in ads, and Pabst Blue Ribbon, parent company to Colt 45, hopes that Snoop's endorsement will give it an advantage over its competitors -- decaffeinated Four Loko and Tilt, for example.

Still, it's already causing controversy among the brass who outlawed fun stimulant-laden cheap liquor, who fret that the colorful marketing will attract young -- and possibly underage -- drinkers, who are obviously too inexperienced to realize that the punch is heavily spiked even though it just doesn't taste like alcohol.

Spokespeople for Blast say they'll emphasize safe drinking by recommending the stuff be consumed over ice or with ginger ale. Just like Snoop drinks it, we're sure.