From the cinnamon challenge to the gallon challenge, dangerous internet dares have been going viral for years. The latest one making headlines is the Tide Pod challenge, spawned from a meme popularized on Twitter telling people to eat the laundry detergent capsule.
And now, one local bar is making it a little more safe for those 21 and up to participate.
Funkys Pizza & Daiquiri Bar on the Square created a new signature drink: the Tide Pod.
The drink is alternating layers of 190 octane and eye candy, their orange and blue flavors, respectively. The finishing touch is a shot of Bacardi 151 Rum on top, which might actually taste as lethal as a Tide Pod itself.
Funkys owner Lee Harris said the Tide Pod has been its best-selling daiquiri since the bar launched it Thursday.
“I was reading somewhere about a Tide Pod challenge where all these kids were trying to eat the real ones, which is an awful thing to do,” Harris said. “Then, I saw a bakery, or maybe a pizza place, somewhere up North made some Tide Pod pizzas with the colors. I said, ‘I can do a daiquiri like that.’”
And he did. Funkys’ Twitter account tweeted a photo debuting the drink saying, “Now a Tide-Pod you can actually drink.”
At the time of publication, the Tweet had more than 1,300 likes and almost 600 retweets.
Now a Tide-Pod you can actually drink. Come try the New Tide-Pod Daiquiri @Funkys. pic.twitter.com/v8wTEOIvnO
— Funkys (@Funkys) January 25, 2018
Harris said that despite a few negative comments on social media, people have been saying the drink is funny and witty. He said it was a marketing thing and is a great-tasting, strong drink.
“It was never taken to be anything negative or wrong to anybody. It was a drink that people got to have fun with this weekend,” he said. “It was a fun drink that will probably die off in a couple of weeks. It’s made some fun of a stupid situation going on in the country. This is something you can actually drink – it’s not something poisonous.”
Harris said the drink isn’t going anywhere and he plans to keep it on the menu until people stop asking for it.
“As long as it’s selling, it’ll be there,” Harris said. “As always, just please drink responsibly, but be sure to come in and enjoy them.”
As a self-proclaimed foodie, I love buying into the trends. I went to the bar Thursday night when they first became available, and it was amazing to see one in about every other person’s hand.
I, myself, was too prideful to utter the words, “May I have a Tide Pod, please?,” so I made a friend do it for me. Once I sipped the drink, though, I had no regrets.
I was skeptical at first just because of the name alone, but if you’re a fan of Funkys daiquiris, there’s no reason you wouldn’t be a fan of this one. If 190 octane or eye candy is your go-to Funkys drink, why not amp it up with another flavor?
The only downfalls are the amount of sugar and the brain freeze, but I think the pros outweigh the cons on this one.
In the end, 10 out of 10 would recommend the Tide Pod daiquiri over a Tide Pod capsule any day.
