Posted on 06/06/2007 7:06:19 AM PDT by Millee
Dutch students have developed powdered alcohol which they say can be sold legally to minors.
The latest innovation in inebriation, called Booz2Go, is available in 20-gramme packets that cost 1-1.5 euros ($1.35-$2).
Top it up with water and you have a bubbly, lime-colored and -flavored drink with just 3 percent alcohol content.
"We are aiming for the youth market. They are really more into it because you can compare it with Bacardi-mixed drinks," 20-year-old Harm van Elderen told Reuters.
Van Elderen and four classmates at Helicon Vocational Institute, about an hour's drive from Amsterdam, came up with the idea as part of their final-year project.
"Because the alcohol is not in liquid form, we can sell it to people below 16," said project member Martyn van Nierop.
The legal age for drinking alcohol and smoking is 16 in the Netherlands.
In Germany, alcopops -- sweet drinks containing alcohol and in powder form -- caused quite a stir when launched on to the market. Alcohol powder, classified as a flavoring, was sold in the United States three years ago.
The students said companies interested in making the product commercially could avoid taxes because the alcohol was in powder form. A number of companies are interested, they said.
Oh, yeah! Boost the alcohol content, and I’ll take it backpacking!
I’ve heard stories that during the Prohibition era in this country, there was a product called “wine brick.” Supposedly, the label contained a warning something like, “Do NOT immerse in water: will produce an alcoholic beverage.”
Now all they need to make are lightweight, compact packets of instant water. :0)
That's quite an accomplishment. Mix it with pop rocks and get to the elementary schools right away!
What is this they are calling powdered alcohol?
Will they sell powdered water to mix with it?
I don't know, but one could use butane as a form of 'lightweight' water, at least in places that aren't too hot. Butane will remain liquid if kept under moderate pressure (low enough to allow for cheap and lightweight containment vessels) but one mole C4H10, weighing 58 grams, will yield when burned 5 moles of H2O weighing 90 grams. Not sure the water formed from commercially-available butane would be suitable for drinking, but the weight ratio would seem favorable.
Great band sound! I never heard of them B4. THX! They're almost as good as a Bombay Sapphire martini!
You’re quite welcome. The Rev’ can shake the house when he’s of a mind to.
A votre sante!
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