Dutch students brew up powdered alcohol hit

Booz2Go - alcopop in a sachet

Dutch students have developed what might be the ultimate Reg hack survival aid - a powdered alcohol beverage going out at €1-€1.50 for a 20-gram packet, Reuters reports.

Just add water to Booz2Go and you get a "bubbly, lime-colored and flavored drink with just three percent alcohol content", ideal for those journalistic Bravo Two Zero situations where you find yourself pinned down by a corporate PowerPoint presentation with nothing more than a plastic cup and a water cooler between you and a sobriety-heightened two-hour torture session.

Mind you, no self-respecting journo would drink anything tasting of lime unless he or she was truly under the cosh. In reality, Booz2Go is aimed at the tearaway alcopop market, as developer Harm van Elderen explained: "We are aiming for the youth market. They are really more into it because you can compare it with Bacardi-mixed drinks."

Van Elderen and four classmates at Helicon Vocational Institute brewed up Booz2Go as part of a final year project. Fellow student Martyn van Nierop showed his WKD side by announcing one major attraction of the concoction for the yoof demographic: "Because the alcohol is not in liquid form, we can sell it to people below 16."

The team says a number of companies are interested in marketing the product on the grounds that powdered alcohol might be exempt from booze taxation. ®