Powdered Alcohol Creates a Stir

You can mix it in with your water, you can mix it in some juice, you can throw it on your omlette. Is there a future for powdered booze?

Social media and news reports are buzzing over the new product Palcohol, but there has been some confusion surrounding the controversial powdered alcohol. 

In response to conflicting reports, Palcohol posted the following statement to their website, “We have been in touch with the TTB [Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau]… There was a mutual agreement for us to surrender the labels… It just means that these labels aren’t approved. We will re-submit labels. We don’t have an expected approval date as label approval can vary widely.”

Despite the approval setback, the site states that the product is planned to be available beginning this fall.

Many are asking whether this new form of alcohol should be sold. On Shepard Smith Reporting, Kennedy, host of The Independents on Fox Business, pointed out, “If the product is no good, people won’t buy it and the company will go out of business or they will pull the product from the shelves.”

Meanwhile, the new form of alcohol will surely introduce questions, as do many other new, innovative products on the market. Safety concerns have been brought up in the public arena and more are likely to follow. Will Palcohol be detectable in a breathalyzer test for drunk driving? How easy will it be for someone to spike another’s food with Palcohol?

A 2007 Reuters article reported on a group of students in the Netherlands who had created a similar, inexpensive, flavored, powdered alcohol called Booz2Go.

It appears Americans may get to decide whether Palcohol, not available for sample before heading to store shelves, will succeed or fail.