The Phoenix entrepreneur who invented the powdered alcohol product that will be sold under the brand name “Palcohol” said that the federal Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau has cleared the product for sale in the United States. Tom Phillips said that his powdered alcohol drinks may now be sold in the U.S. and that sales in states which permit the product could begin by this summer. “We will be working on getting the production facility up and running,” Phillips said. “It will take a while, but hopefully it will be available this summer.” On Wednesday, bureau spokesman Tom Hogue confirmed that the federal agency responsible for regulating alcohol products has approved four varieties of Palcohol — cosmopolitan, margarita, vodka and rum. Approval of a fifth variety, lemon drop, is expected shortly. The bureau, which is part of the U.S. Department of the Treasury, relies on the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to determine if a product is adulterated, and then its evaluation focuses on whether the label is an accurate depiction of what is in the product. It remains to be seen what impact the federal approvals will have on states that have been considering bills to ban powdered alcohol sales. States legislatures from Connecticut to Colorado are working on powdered alcohol policies, and some states have multiple bills. State lawmakers are considering everything from outright bans to calling the product out for special attention when it comes through state alcohol control boards. Phillips seemed unconcerned about not having a 50-state rollout, encouraging prospective “Palcohol” customers to tell their lawmakers they don’t want to live in a “nanny state.” Update: After some news reports misrepresented FDA’s involvement with Palcohol, the agency released a statement to clarify that it only evaluated “the regulatory status of the non-alcohol ingredients added to these products” at the request of the Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau (TTB). FDA concluded that the non-alcoholic ingredients in Palcohol — which are common in many processed foods — were in compliance with their regulations. “We did not provide an approval, nor did we conduct any testing,” the agency stated. The statement continued: “The FDA does not have concerns that the ingredients, when added to the alcoholic beverage products, render the products adulterated under the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act. As is the case of any multi-ingredient food product, the FDA may take further actions under its statutory authority if warranted by information it might acquire in the future about the product. However, at this time the FDA does not have a legal basis to block market entry of this product.”