German company sells instant cocktails

HAGENER, Germany, May 27 (UPI) -- German teenagers have a new source of alcohol -- instant cocktails in just-add-water powders.

The newspaper Deutsche Welle reports that the instant drinks are easily available and cheap, selling at gas stations and convenience stores as well as bars and liquor stores for as little as $2 or $3. When mixed with water, the powder produces a cocktail equivalent of about a drink and a half with an alcohol content of close to 5 percent.

Subyou, the North Rhine-Westphalia company that manufactures the powders, marketed them over the Internet at first. But Deutsche Welle reports they are now showing up all over the place, and teenagers seem to be able to buy them easily in spite of warning labels against selling them to younger people.

Germany successfully cut teenage consumption of "alcopops" or sweet alcoholic drinks by using taxes to raise prices beyond most adolescents' budgets. Now, experts say that something similar should be done to the powdered drinks.