You may have heard about a weird and wonderful new thing called Palcohol coming soon to a store near you. Except, psych! The Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau (TTB) is now saying the powdered alcohol product was approved in error—all because of a labeling discrepancy.
The whole situation seems a bit bizarre. A beverage law blog first noticed documents on the government bureau's website that Palcohol was given "label approval" on April 8. But a spokesman for the bureau told the AP today that the approval was actually in error. The company behind Palcohol elaborated in a statement that there seemed to a problem with how much powder is in the bag and that labels would be resubmitted for approval.
Beverage law experts who spoke to the AP agreed backpedalling seemed odd.
Robert Lehrman, who runs a beverage law website that initially reported on the product, noted that Palcohol had to have gone through an extensive process before reaching the label approval stage.
"An oversight of this nature does not ring true to me," Lehrman said in a phone interview. He suggested that the bureau may have heard back from lawmakers wanting more information on the powdered alcohols.
In any case, it looks like you won't be buying Palcohol off the shelves soon. But hey, guess what? You can easily make your own powdered alcohol in the comfort of your own home. [Associated Press]
Top image: Stock phot0 (not actually Palcohol) by Oleg Golovnev/Shutterstock