February 20, 2016 by Chris

The Curious Case of Casein Infused Vodka

Several years back, Devotion Spirits experimented with a casein infused vodka targeted towards the health and bodybuilding set. They hired a celebrity spokesman and earned some early buzz, but things went downhill from there. Devotion’s claims that the vodka “contains 2 grams of protein per 1.5 ounce serving; that it will help build muscle mass; and that it will not cause hangovers” caught the eye of the FTC, who closed their investigation in October 2012 only after

Devotion’s prompt decision to cease making the claims noted above, as well as its having advised us that future advertising and marketing materials that contain the phrases “infused with protein” or “infused with casein” will make clear that Devotion Vodka does not contain a significant amount of protein (casein) and that the purpose of the protein (casein) in the product is to modify its taste.

Further compounding the company’s troubles, their spokesperson sued for millions around the same.

But don’t shed any tears for Devotion. The company appears to have changed its strategy and now targets the gluten-free, sugar-free, and anti-GMO markets.

While casein infused alcohol is certainly an interesting concept, the task now falls to any one of the innumerable alcohol startups to do it properly.