Dutch students invent powdered booze

[burnthebeautiful]

And because the powder itself doesn't contain alcohol, as it only becomes alcoholic after water is added, it can be sold to minors and can't be taxed as an alcoholic beverage. It only contains 3% alcohol, but it's still a kickass invention

http://www.cnn.com/2007/WORLD/europe/06/06/powdered.booze.reut/index.html?eref=rss_topstories

Students invent powdered booze
POSTED: 9:16 a.m. EDT, June 6, 2007
AMSTERDAM, Netherlands (Reuters) -- Dutch students have invented powdered alcohol which they say can be sold legally to minors.

The latest innovation in inebriation, called Booz2Go, is available in 20-gram packets that cost €1-1.5 ($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.

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.

[FTL_Ian]