Chicago-based Phusion Projects LLC, the maker of Four Loko, is releasing a new line of spirits: Four Loko Shots. This marks Four Loko's first foray into the liquor business, as the company continues to use innovation as a springboard for sustained growth, it says.

Available in 750-ml bottles, Four Loko Shots is offered in three flavors: Screwball, a lemon drop flavor; Dragon's Breath, a cinnamon apple variety; and Green Tornado, a green apple flavor. With its neon colors and graphic imagery, Shots is intended to be unorthodox and bold in name, liquid and flavor, the company says.

"Four Loko's unabashed reputation always made the expansion into spirits attractive to us," said Gerry Macchia, Phusion Projects' vice president of sales for wine and spirits, in a statement. "A Four Loko hard liquor had to be created in a manner authentic to the brand. One example is the use of experience-based names to describe what it feels like to take the shot, as opposed to simply the flavor."

With the release of Shots, the company now extends its presence into on-premise accounts, a territory that has been mostly unchartered for the company's flavored malt beverage-based product portfolio, it says.

"Four Loko needed to win more occasions," Phusion's President Jim Sloan said. "Our audience's appetite for adventurous options doesn't end at the pregame."