Maurice Kanbar has a million-dollar idea that he thinks could clear your head and solve the sales problems of an industry: hangover-free vodka.
He says people who drink his Skyy Vodka aren't likely to get hangovers because he has removed most of the impurities that he thinks causes them. He used to get bad headaches when he drank, but not since he created Skyy, he says.
But now Mr. Kanbar is getting headaches from the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms. It has launched an investigation of his hangover claims that could force him to scrap his advertising altogether.
The feds are worried that people will be more inclined to abuse alcohol if they think it causes less harm.
But even if Mr. Kanbar's marketing ploy ends, the search for a cure for the common hangover is likely to continue as the liquor industry struggles to cope with the changing tastes of younger drinkers.
New research indicates there are ways to reduce the pain of alcohol use.
Researchers at Johns Hopkins University say they have discovered a link between the use of vitamin K and the rate that the body is able to clear alcohol. Lab animals that were given vitamin K were able to metabolize ethanol (the key ingredient in alcohol) faster, limiting the potency of hangovers and other side effects.
But before you start fantasizing about an evening with hangover-free whiskey, the researchers warn that abuse will almost always lead to an unpleasant morning after.
"There can never be hangover-free alcohol," says Dr. Robert Rubin, one of the Johns Hopkins researchers. "You would have to remove all the ethanol, and if you do that it's no longer alcohol."
Dr. Wallace Mandell, a Johns Hopkins University researcher studying alcohol consumption trends, says health claims are just one way of attracting younger drinkers who seem wary of alcohol's side effects. Other innovations have been a trend toward coloring, flavoring and sugaring drinks, like clear Zima beer and flavored vodkas.
The latest invention is cranberry-flavored vodka, produced by Finlandia. While many traditional vodka drinkers may cringe at the thought, such products are taking over a market dominated by young drinkers looking for a more palatable flavor.
Innovations such as flavors and headache reduction are just what some hard-liquor industry executives think they need to rebound from a dismal sales trend over the past decade and a half.
