Contrary to what suspicious lawmakers may think, powdered alcohol is not the herald to the apocalypse. In April of 2014, a form of American-made powdered alcohol was approved for sale... with its approval quickly rescinded due to what I'd imagine to be bureaucratic red tape by the US Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau.

Their belief was that its creators are degenerates who were plotting the downfall of American society, starting by getting everyone drunk: people could surreptitiously consume it or trick others into consuming it, mimic (and thus promote) drug use by snorting it, engage teenagers in underaged drinking with their kid-friendly flavors and packaging... the uninformed, paranoid list goes on and on.

Since you can't buy it yet, why not just make it yourself? After the initial hubbub over powdered alcohol arose, Popular Science was kind enough to provide a recipe, but their actual instructions were somewhat lacking.

My powdered alcohol isn't technically powdered alcohol; it's alcohol that has been trapped in powder. Yes, semantics. But it's light, dry, and if enough is consumed, you'll be six ways to Sunday drunk* in no time!**

*Please drink... uh, eat responsibly.

**This is false, as you'll need to eat a lot. A lot.

Step 1: What You'll Need

Ingredients:
Alcohol - use a high proof liquor. If you can get something akin to Everclear, use that - you'll need less powder to create an effective product. I used Bacardi 151, since we can't legally obtain 190 proof Everclear in California. The thing with the proof is that you can't think of it like a shot - you aren't taking a traditional shot. No one, aside from 21 year old frat boys (I was one, so I should know) likes taking shots of that stuff. It's nasty. But the more alcohol you start off with, the less you'll have to eat to get drunk.
Maltodextrin - this is the powder you'll be using to absorb the alcohol. I used N-Zorbit, a tapioca maltodextrin. Other accounts of this recipe insist that other types won't work, but I was unable to test others out.

Tools:
Mixing bowl
Whisk
Sifter
Food processor (small, if available)

Step 2: Measure!

Measure out the alcohol and maltodextrin; one shot of booze weighs approximately 30 grams, for which you'll need roughly 100 grams of maltodextrin. It's fairly light so it'll be a pretty sizable mound of powder.

Step 3: Mix and Mash!

Dump the maltodextrin into a bowl and while whisking, slowly pour the booze into the bowl. It'll clump up substantially, but just keep whisking. You'll need to mash up the clumps to create more surface area to have more of the loose maltodextrin absorb the moisture. Add more maltodextrin as needed; the mixture needs to be dry to touch before proceeding. Ideally, you'll end up with small dry "chips" of the mixture.

(I tried mixing the booze and maltodextrin directly in the food processor, but ended up with a large, sticky, taffy-like mass that wouldn't easily grind into a powder)

Step 4: Blend!

Pour the "chips" into the food processor. After a few cycles of alternating grinding/chopping, I added more maltodextrin; a heaping spoonful should do the trick.

You'll end up with varying-sized clumps of the powdered booze. The larger ones presumably held more of the actual alcohol; I sifted the powder from the clumps and just kept grinding the larger clumps (with a tad more maltodextrin) until they were small enough to mix in easily with the powder.

When opening up the food processor, whether to add more maltodextrin or when finished grinding, take care; my first time, I got a healthy whiff of 151 that almost made me gag.

On to the taste test...

Step 5: Put It in Your Mouth

The end product as pictured is one shot's worth of Bacardi 151. That's a *lot* of powder (and from what I understand, the commercial product will be somewhat close in volume); those bureaucrats who think that people will snort it or sprinkle it into an unsuspecting foodie's soup failed to realize that the volume of the product prohibits those kinds of shenanigans.

Eager to test my creation's intoxicating properties, I put a spoonful in my mouth.

It quickly became a pasty, rum-flavored mass in my mouth. After chewing - yes, chewing, as it didn't quite dissolve in my mouth - it for a bit, it felt like caramel... only less tasty. It was brown, sticky, and relative to taking an actual shot of 151, much less pleasant (so that's saying something). Attempts at dissolving the powder in water did not make it any easier to consume, as it quickly solidified into the same lump of brown goo once it hit the water.

I'm going to give this another go. First on the list of additives is sugar - if I need to chew it to get drunk, I might as well be chewing something a little more palatable.

The end product of this Instructable is an extremely inefficient way to get drunk. After all, taking a shot or two of your favorite alcohol is far easier; I much prefer sipping a good whiskey with a splash of water. But if you're keen on getting drunk and can't be bothered (or are restricted from using) with traditional booze, I don't see why this wouldn't be a viable option!