Controversial Powdered Alcohol Approved, Available Later This Year

A revolution in mixed drinks—powdered alcohol—was just approved by the Tobacco and Alcohol Tax and Trade Bureau. The product, which is distilled from cane and will include six different flavors that can be mixed into cocktails, will be available in fall 2014.

The company that invented and will produce the powdered alcohol product, called Palcohol, said on its website that they were surprised that the information about their product was released.

“We are excited by the approval of our powdered alcohol product, Palcohol,” said the company on its homepage. “However, we were caught off guard with the release of some of our labels by the Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau (TTB). As a result, people visited this website that we thought was under the radar because we had not made a formal announcement of Palcohol.”

Invented by Mark Phillips, the product is in the process of being patented.

The obscure approval of powdered alcohol, which was not announced on a government website, was discovered by an attorney at Lehrman Beverage Law, LLC, John D. Messinger. Powdered alcohol will likely encounter some legal speed bumps, though, according to the Lehrman Beverage law website.

They include whether the product will be admissible into concerts and sporting events, where outside food and drinks are usually prohibited. The different types of powdered alcohol, which include rum and vodka flavors, can be mixed with water or a drink mix to make cocktails such as a Cosmopolitan, Mojito, and Lemon Drop.

The company has said that they are not looking for investors or employees, and have no plans to go public at any point in the near future. Since the release of information about powdered alcohol being available to the public was a surprise to Palcohol, the company has scrubbed their website a bit since the news broke on April 17.

Before it was scrubbed, Gawker pulled some interesting information from Palcohol’s list of possible uses for powdered alcohol. One of the recommended uses of powdered alcohol included sprinkling it on food for an extra kick:

“We’ve been talking about drinks so far. But we have found adding Palcohol to food is so much fun. Sprinkle Palcohol on almost any dish and give it an extra kick. Some of our favorites are the Kamikaze in guacamole, Rum on a BBQ sandwich, Cosmo on a salad and Vodka on eggs in the morning to start your day off right. Experiment. Palcohol is great on so many foods. Remember, you have to add Palcohol AFTER a dish is cooked as the alcohol will burn off if you cook with it…and that defeats the whole purpose.”

Whatever purpose powdered alcohol is ultimately used for, consumers will have to wait a few months to try it out.