Dive Brief:
- The Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau greenlighted labels for Arizona-based Lipsmark LLC's Palcohol, powdered alcohol that can be mixed into drinks, such as water or fruit juice.
- Several states have already released preemptive bans on powdered alcohol, including South Carolina, Louisiana, and Vermont, and now that the approval is official, several more may join them. Food Dive recently reported on Colorado's pseudo ban.
- Palcohol could go on sale in some states as early as this summer.
Dive Insight:
Will these foil pouches actually take off in bars, social gatherings, and other places where there are no bottles of alcohol? Each pouch of powdered alcohol is equivalent to about a shot of liquid alcohol and can be mixed in up to six ounces of liquid. Powdered alcohol will come in several varieties, including vodka, rum, and three specialty cocktails: Cosmopolitan, Lemon Drop, and Powderita, a powdered margarita.
Concerns about sales to children and the ease with which powdered alcohol can be smuggled into public events have arisen. Others are concerned that it "might be abused by being sprinkled on food, snorted or used to spike drinks" and could become "the Kool-Aid of teen binge drinking." says The Wall Street Journal.