Glenlivet appears to be trying to get customers on board with drinking whiskey out of little pods that dissolve in your mouth - and people have questions
- Glenlivet appears to be selling its whiskey in the form of small pods that dissolve in your mouth.
- The Scotch whiskey company released a video advertisement showing people enjoying the collection of "edible cocktail capsules" that can be consumed with "no need for a glass, ice, or a cocktail stirrer."
- Each capsule, which is made of seaweed, holds 0.77 ounces - or about half a typical shot - of booze.
- People had many questions on social media, with many wondering if it was a joke and others comparing the capsules to Tide Pods.
- Some said consuming whiskey this way would ruin the experience because you can't smell it or sip it.
- Glenlivet did not respond to Business Insider's request for comment on whether or not the cocktail capsules are a real product the company will be rolling out.
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Scotch whiskey company Glenlivet seems to have launched an already controversial new product: "The Capsule Collection," which sells whiskey in small, biodegradable pods that dissolve in your mouth.
The company released a video showing people enjoying what the narrator calls "edible cocktail capsules" made from seaweed that can be enjoyed with "no need for a glass, ice, or a cocktail stirrer."
According to the video, Glenlivet partnered with London bar Tayer to create three new Founder's Reserve-based recipes.
"To enjoy them, pop the capsule in your mouth and take a bite to release the delicious cocktail ingredients," the narrator says in the video.
Each capsule contains 23 milliliters of booze, or about 0.77 ounces. A typical shot glass holds 1.5 ounces.
"As a brand that celebrates originality, we are always looking to break the conventions that have determined how single malt Scotch has historically been enjoyed," Glenlivet director Miriam Eceolaza told Food and Wine magazine. "The Glenlivet Capsule Collection does exactly that, and we're excited to see how people react when they try our glassless cocktails."
People on the internet have a lot of questions
Many people on Twitter wondered if the capsule collection was a joke or a parody.
Glenlivet did not immediately respond to Business Insider's request for comment on whether or not the cocktail capsules are a real product the company will be rolling out.
Some said the capsules reminded them of Tide Pods, the laundry detergent capsules that have long been at the center of a meme about the product appearing edible. In the "Tide Pod Challenge," some people - mainly teens - pretended, or in some cases, appeared to actually eat Tide Pods.
An overarching criticism of the whiskey pods was that the capsules would "cheapen" the mystique of the Glenlivet brand and ruin the experience of drinking whiskey.
"Scotch is meant to be sipped, its complex flavors enjoyed in micro sips," one Twitter user wrote. "As soon as you treat it like tequila or cheap hooch, your brand is dead."
Another user wrote: "This destroys the experience of tasting a good scotch. You can't nose it. You can't sip it. You can't fold your tongue, and then flatten your tongue inside your mouth, exposing different flavor receptors."
On Instagram, one person pointed out that most whiskey drinkers seem to particularly enjoy the experience of sipping the beverage.
"I don't imagine they get a thrill out of popping a pod in their mouths," they wrote.
According to Glenlivet's video, the company teamed up with sustainable packaging startup Notpla to create the capsules. The packaging company retweeted Glenlivet's tweet about the capsules, adding the announcement that the capsules will be available during London Cocktail Week, which runs from October 4 through October 13.
The creator of the capsule cocktail recipes, bartender Alex Kratena of Tayer, told The Washington Post that the collaboration was "an exploration of the flavor pillars" in Glenlivet whiskey.
"For me, there's so much more which makes the liquid complex," Kratena told the Post. "When you insert them in your mouth and gently press them against your palate, you get all the flavors."
He added that any similarity to Tide Pods was a coincidence.
Glenlivet also did not reply to Business Insider's request for comment on the price of the "capsule cocktails."