Your customers all know what a hangover feels like: headache, drowsiness, the need to stay in bed all day and not do anything—including return to your bar. But new “hangover helpers” on the market might keep your patrons from over-partying.
“I love drugs, but I hate hangovers, and the hatred of the hangover wins by a landslide every time.” — Margaret Cho
After a long night of drinking copious amounts of cocktails, a hangover seems inevitable. The more imbibing that takes place in your establishment, the more likely that your customers will wake up the next day with cottonmouth, dreary eyes, and a headache the size of Alaska (moose not included). Up until recently, the hangover seemed like an unstoppable force, only to be cured after the fact by a heavy dosage of ibuprofen, something greasy, and a whole lot of water. But nowadays, hangover helpers are becoming available all over the place that can be taken after drinking, and even during drinking, to ensure the night, and the morning after, go smoothly, and your customers come back for more.
The science behind the hangover is a condition worth looking into. The long and short of it? Dehydration. While drinking, the body is only able to absorb so many molecules of alcohol. After a while, your body is unable to take on the rest, resulting in a nasty headache the next day. iX MiXer (www.ixmixer.com), an electrolyte-heavy drink that serves both as a hangover helper and a drink mixer, assists the body in staying hydrated during alcohol intake.
Jeff Somers, CEO of iX MiXer and avid hangover-hater, realized that his drink, originally just designed as a mixer, was actually pretty effective in curbing the effects of hangovers the next day. The mixer, which comes in berrie and citrus, includes vitamins A, B6, and B12, as well as other vitamins and minerals to keep you hydrated, regulate blood sugar, and promote blood flow. The most notable element of the product is its versatility, as both a hangover product and a mixer in cocktails.
“Between the berrie and citrus flavor, you can find a good cocktail for whatever kind of liquor you like to drink,” says Somers. “We’ve got some high-end Mexican places that make Margaritas and Palomas with the citrus flavor, and some bars that have cocktails with the berrie flavor. It’s a combination of educating the bartender on how it’s going to help the patrons, and working with the bar managers for getting the product on menus.”
Rather than customers having to remember to take a hangover product after having already consumed what will be discovered the next day as one-too-many drinks, iX MiXer is part of the drinking routine. “We looked at it as something that could be a really great tasting mixer that also happens to help with your hangover, so we looked at it from a different perspective in hope that people don’t have to remember to have it laying around when they get home so they can drink it and feel better the next day,” says Somers. “If they’ve been drinking iX cocktails all night, they’ve been able to take those preventative measures already.”
