Presto Wine

It was powdered wine. You just added some water and sugar, let it sit for a month, and you had wine. For dirt cheap. The stuff was briefly available in the mid-1980s, but then it seems to have fallen afoul of lawmakers who were worried about kids being able to buy this stuff in stores (where it was sold as a food product, no age requirement for purchase).

Wilmington Morning News - May 24, 1984



Popular Mechanics - Feb 1984



Wilmington News Journal - Apr 21, 1984

     Posted By: Alex - Sun Jun 10, 2018
     Category: 1980s | Alcohol





Comments
"This Kool Aid tastes funny!"
agent j
Posted by agent j on 06/10/18 at 09:24 AM
Good Lord! How did they think that wine is produced? The package was obviously flavoring and yeast, so that the deputy A.G. was correct in his assessment.

There was a fermented malt product on the market about this same time that had a trace amount of alcohol, probably .25% by volume, and had the Mothers Against Everything crowd up in arms. Their reasoning was that it would teach their little snowflakes to enjoy alcoholic beverages. Even though one would have to consume literally gallons of the stuff to feel any effects. I remember that the flavor was not exceptional and it turned out to be one of those products that died on the shelf.
Posted by KDP on 06/10/18 at 09:48 AM
Good thing Sam E.H. Rambo tested that wine. Fermentation could have been a 10,000 year old hoax.
Posted by Virtual on 06/10/18 at 10:35 AM
Virtual -- according to the Drunken Monkey Hypothesis, our ancestors have been enjoying fermentation for a lot longer than 10,000 years. More like millions of years.

I have no idea if the Drunken Monkey Hypothesis is right, but I like the name.
Posted by Alex on 06/10/18 at 11:24 AM
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