Whipahol: Alcoholic Whipped Cream?

Blackout in a can. Apparently the new fad is to pack as much alcohol as possible into a disguised, low-priced drink. Although this is deceiving and dangerous it is also exactly what college students everywhere have been wishing for. Getting extremely intoxicated without having to pay an arm and a leg, not to mention drinking something that actually tastes good (not at all like alcohol), is a college kid’s dream.

Four Loko was first: 24 ounce cans of a caffeine energy drink containing up to 12% alcohol in fruity flavors sold for around $3.00 (the equivalent of drinking 3 beers). But that was quickly run out of stores and banned throughout the United States.




Whipped Lightning and similar products nicknamed “whipahol” are quickly becoming the new hottest thing in terms of tasty alcoholic treats. They pack up to 18.5% alcohol into whipped cream, (more than three times the amount found in most beers) and with the disguise of the cream and sugar, the alcohol can barely be tasted.

I’m a college student and as big a drinker as the next guy. I thought banning Four Lokos because a few college kids abused it was ridiculous, because that could be argued about any alcohol drink, especially beer. College kids abuse many types of cheap, high alcohol content drinks such as 30’s of Natty and Busch, and handles of Rubinoff and Cossack. But that’s no reason to ban them completely.

But “whipahol” is a completely different story. This is not a beer, or alcohol or even fruity energy drink with a high alcohol content. This is a dessert infused with alcohol. When you drink a four loko, a Natty or a shot of Rubinoff, you know you are consuming alcohol. Not only do consumers of “whipahol” not taste the alcohol in it whatsoever because it is disguised, but they could potentially not even know they are consuming alcohol at all. A scenario brought up in this news reel is that whipped lightning put on top of an already alcohol disguised jello shot could be very dangerous. Just imagine the young girls that get dangerously drunk when consuming jello shots at a college party, but with alcoholic whipped cream on top, they don’t even know they are consuming close to three beer’s worth of alcohol. Critics also say that if people already abuse whipped cream by eating far too much or getting high of the cans, adding alcohol to that mix could be deadly.

So although this sounds like a delicious treat to put on top of a mudslide or a White Russian for responsible adults, the risks outweigh the rewards. Having it on the market, even in liquor stores where buyers need to get ID-ed, will not stop it from getting into the hands of kids. Not to mention the fact that during the holiday season, with all of the alcohol infused desserts that adults eat, it could quickly put some responsible and unknowing adults over the legal limit to drive while they think they haven’t even consumed alcohol.