Powdered Alcohol Could Increase Minors' Access to Booze, Locals Say They Won't Sell it

Brown paper bags and busted glass bottles may be a thing of the past this fall, when the creators of a new mind-altering powder hope to have Palcohol approved and ready for distribution nationwide.

Palcohol, a powdered form of booze that currently has been made in rum, vodka, cosmopolitan, mojito, powderita (margarita) and lemon drop flavors, will come in a pouch with approximately one ounce of powder that can be mixed with water or other liquids to create a beverage roughly equivalent to one mixed drink.

Preliminary labeling for the powdered alcohol pouches describe use as simple as adding water to the contents directly in the package by filling it up to about an inch below top and giving the mix a stir. Getting drunk has never been so easy, or discreet.

As of April 8 the Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau (TTB) had approved the labels for the product, but that approval was retracted less than two weeks later as it was “made in error”, several news sites report. TIME magazine quotes a statement from Palcohol’s parent company Lipsmark, which explains the TTB retraction of label approval:  “there seemed to be a discrepancy on our fill level, how much powder is in the bag”, the news site states, adding that the approvals were turned back over on April 21. “This doesn’t mean that Palcohol isn’t approved,” it said. “It just means that these labels aren’t approved. We will re-submit labels.”[[{"fid":"4647","view_mode":"default","fields":{"format":"default","field_file_image_alt_text[und][0][value]":"One of the previously approved Palcohol labels. (Image/bevlaw.com)","field_file_image_title_text[und][0][value]":"One of the previously approved Palcohol labels. (Image/bevlaw.com)"},"type":"media","attributes":{}}]]

But the labeling hasn’t been the only hurdle the booze company has had to overcome recently. Several news agencies published articles just after label approval, some quoting directly from the company website and drawing attention to site content that apparently painted a less than desirable image of the company itself.

Some of that old content, which the website now describes as an experiment “with some humorous and edgy verbiage about Palcohol”, was “not meant to be our final presentation of Palcohol.”

Whether or not that content was meant to represent the company, they did raise some valid points that could pit the public against them. Included in the initial, edgy copy were mentions of sneaking the powder into ballgames to avoid high-priced drinks, getting subtly wasted with powdered vodka on your eggs and the possibility of snorting the stuff for an instant—and ill-advised, they mentioned—drunk.

Local bar owner Toni Hunter of The House of FiFi Dubois says she’s never heard of Palcohol, but doesn’t think she’d be interested in selling the product. “I wouldn’t trust it,” she said. “I wouldn’t trust the mix, I wouldn’t trust that people wouldn’t take a powdered form and do stupid stuff with it. I don’t see alcohol in powdered form being an upside.”

From a policing standpoint, SAPD Lt. Mike Hernandez says he’s also concerned about the powder, specifically as pertains to minors. Hernandez said that although the creators of the product have advised people not to snort it, he worries that adolescents, who have a tendency to break the rules, would want to try it out and see why they’ve been told ‘no’. Hernandez also mentioned that he feels the powdered booze will be more difficult to control.

“I would think it would be easier to conceal,” he said. “If a minor is at a venue and they buy a bottle of water, we’re not going to be able to detect [the presence of the powder]. People flavor their water for a tea, so we’re not going to be out there testing people’s powder if it looks like Kool-Aid or what have you. We’re not going to be taste-testing.”

According to Pinkie’s owner Mike Ellington, the powder is not currently legal in Texas and he doubts that it ever will be. Ellington explains that once the federal government has approved it, the product will be subject to approval by the Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission (TABC). “That will never happen,” he said. “My guess would be that even if they approved it the Texas Legistlature in the next session, which starts in January, would kill it deader than a hammer.”

Since the TTB has recalled all of their approvals for the seven labels submitted by Palcohol, the TABC has not yet begun the process of considering the regulations for the product and its distribution in Texas. TABC Public Information Officer Carolyn Beck said Tuesday that there haven’t yet been enough talks on the subject for her to comment on the commission’s position.

For his part, Ellington says that even if the TABC and Texas Legislature decide to approve the product, he certainly doesn’t intend on carrying it in his two San Angelo stores.

“It’s something that I think is an absolutely horrible idea and I hope that the damn state and the federal government will outlaw it forever,” he said. “That’s extremely dangerous. It can be abused by anyone of any age, it can be carried in a packet like a pack of Equal or Sweet N Low sugar and put in water and Coca Cola and anything, anywhere, anytime. It’s a terrible idea.”

The Palcohol website has been redacted since controversy overtook media coverage and now cleanly states that the powder should be used responsibly, legally and never snorted.  

“Take your Pal wherever you go!” the website and original labels exclaim. It’s “small enough to fit into any pocket.”[[{"fid":"4645","view_mode":"default","fields":{"format":"default","field_file_image_alt_text[und][0][value]":"One of the previously approved Palcohol labels. (Image/bevlaw.com)","field_file_image_title_text[und][0][value]":"One of the previously approved Palcohol labels. (Image/bevlaw.com)"},"type":"media","attributes":{}}]]